Human marco scavenger receptor

ABSTRACT

Human Marco scavenger receptor polypeptides (HMarcoSR) and DNA (RNA) encoding such HMarcoSR and a procedure for producing such polypeptides by recombinant techniques is disclosed. Also disclosed are methods for utilizing such HMarcoSR for the treatment of various cardivascular disorders, gangrene, and loss of fuunction in the extremeties. Antagonists against such HMarcoSR and their use as a therapeutic to treat various cardivascular disorders, gangrene, and loss of fuunction in the extremeties are also disclosed. Also disclosed are diagnostic assays for detecting diseases related to mutations in the nucleic acid sequences and altered concentrations of the polypeptides. Also disclosed are diagnostic assays for detecting mutations in the polynucleotides encoding the HMarcoSR and for detecting altered levels of the polypeptide in a host.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to Ser. No. 60/017,699 filed May 23,1996.

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates, in part, to newly identified polynucleotides andpolypeptides; variants and derivatives of the polynucleotides andpolypeptides; processes for making the polynucleotides and thepolypeptides, and their variants and derivatives; agonists andantagonists of the polypeptides; and uses of the polynucleotides,polypeptides, variants, derivatives, agonists and antagonists. Inparticular, in these and in other regards, the invention relates topolynucleotides and polypeptides of human Marco scavenger receptors,hereinafter referred to as "HMarcoSR polypeptides" or simply "HMarcoSR".

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in the US,accounting annually for more than one million death. Atherosclerosis,which forms a part of the cardiovascular abnormalities, is responsiblefor 50% of all mortality in the USA, Europe and Japan. Atherosclerosisis the principle cause of heart attack, myocardial and cerebralinfarction, angina, organ failure, stroke, and gangrene and loss offunction in the extremities.

There is widespread agreement that multiple risk factors contribute toatherosclerosis, including: hypertension, elevated total serumcholersterol, high levels of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol,low levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, diabetesmellitus, severe obesity, and cigarette smoking. However, only a smallersegment of research has focused on the role of non-lipid factors in thedevelopment of atherosclerosis, and modifying lipids has become themajor focus of treatment and research. This is due to difficulty ofdemonstrating advantage on atherosclerotic lesions, thus treatment ofatherosclerosis has narrowly focused on directly treating elevatedcholersterol levels. Since the comprehensive MRFIT study showed that 40%of death due to coronary heart disease occur in men with totalcholesterol of <220 mg/dl, it is obvious that too great an emphasis hasbeen placed on lipid lowering. Indeed, only 30% of patients withatherosclerosis have elevated lipids, strongly indicating that otherpathogenic factors are involved.

Since effective prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis has not yetbeen achieved, considerable effort is been made in defining the etiologyand potential treatments of atherosclerosis and its consequences.Despite this effort there are still many unansared questions includinghow and when atherosclerotic lesions become life-threatening, the bestpoint of intervention, and how to detect and monitor the progression oflesions.

Macrophages form an important part of the host defense system in normaland pathological processes and also participate in the development andthe pathogenesis of several diseases, including atherosclerosis.Macrophage scavenger receptors play a key role in atherogenesis bymediating uptake of modified low density lipoprotein (LDL) in arterialwalls, and in host defense by binding bacterial endotoxins, bacteria,and protozoa.

The modification of LDL in arterial walls and its subsequent scavengerreceptor-mediated uptake into macrophages have been proposed to play akey role in the deposition of lipoprotein cholersterol during theformation of atherosclerosis. The accumulation of lipid-laden foamcells, derived from macrophages and smooth muscle cells (SMC), is one ofthe characteristic early changes in the arterial intima of a developingatherosclerotic plaque. The process leading to the transformation ofmacrophages and SMC into foam cells appears to involve the scavengerreceptor. A number of in vitro and in vivo studies support this model ofatherogenesis. For example, it has been found that after incubation withmodified LDL in vitro, CHO cells expressing bovine scavenger receptorscan be converted into lipid-laden cells that resemble the macrophages inplaques. Also, scavenger receptor mRNA and protein as well as modifiedLDL have been detected in atherosclerotic plaques. (For discussion ofimportance of scavenger receptor in atherosclerotic events see Kriegeret al., The Journal of Biological Chemistry, Vol 268, No. 7, pp4569-4572, 1993, and the references cited therein. Clearly scavengerreceptors are important tool to study and eventually treatatherosclerosis and its attendant diseases.

Studies on binding of Ox-LDL (oxidized-LDL) and Ac-LDL (acetylated-LDL)to cells in culture have suggested that a single scavenger receptor typedoes not account for all of the observed interactions and uptakecharacteristics. Very recently, a new member of the scavenger receptorfamily referred to as Marco scavenger receptor (MmarcoSR), has beencloned from a mouse macrophage cDNA library (Eloma et al., Cell, Vol 80,pp 603-609, 1995).

The Marco scavenger receptor has also been implicated in the binding ofgram positive and gram negative bacteria but not yeast. The C-terminaldomains V and VI of Marco and scavenger receptor show high degree ofhomology each containing six cysteine residues with similar spacing.This scavenger receptor cysteine-rich motif has been found in a numberof other proteins. These proteins are expressed on the surfaces of cellsassociated with the immune system and host defense functions (T cells, Bcells and macrophages) or are secreted and known or suspected of beinginvolved in host defense.

The binding of Marco to bacteria and the expression of this protein inspecific macrophage subpopulations indicates that it plays a role inimmunological reactions. The marginal zone macrophage of the spleenwhere Marco is highly expressed form a very special population in manyrespects. The large macrophages are strategically positioned in theanatomical compartment of the spleen where the blood stream leaves thesmall arterioles and passes into the so-called open venous system. Here,the phagocytosing system first contacts blood-borne pathogens, and thehighly phagocytic marginal zone macrophages. The binding properties andrestricted expression of Marco in subpopulations of macrophages that areinvolved in the uptake of bacterial antigenic polysaccarides indicatesthat Marco plays important role in the host defense system andhomeostasis of the body.

The polypeptides of the present invention have amino acid sequencehomology to known murine Marco scavenger receptor (MmarcoSR).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Toward these ends, and others, it is an object of the present inventionto provide polypeptides, inter alia, that have been identified as novelHMarcoSR with the sequences set out in SEQ ID NOS:2 and 6 (FIGS. 1, 4Aand 4B) As used herein HMarcoSR refers both to amino acid sequences ofSEQ ID NOS: 2 and 4; moreover, amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 is apartial sequence of SEQ ID NO: 6.

It is a further object of the invention to provide polynucleotides thatencode HMarcoSR of SEQ ID NOS:2 and 6. In one preferred embodiment, thepolynucleotides comprise the sequences set out in SEQ ID NOS:1 and 5. Inone preferred embodiment, the polynucleotides comprise nucleotidesequence from 51 to 1534 of SEQ ID NO: 1.

In accordance with this aspect of the present invention there isprovided an isolated nucleic acid molecule encoding a mature polypeptideexpressed by the human cDNA contained in ATCC Deposit No. 98015deposited Mar. 21, 1996.

In accordance with this aspect of the invention there are providedisolated nucleic acid molecules encoding HMarcoSR, including mRNAs,cDNAs, genomic DNAs and, in further embodiments of this aspect of theinvention, biologically, diagnostically, clinically or therapeuticallyuseful variants, analogs or derivatives thereof, or fragments thereof,including fragments of the variants, analogs and derivatives.

Among the particularly preferred embodiments of this aspect of theinvention are naturally occurring allelic variants of HMarcoSR.

It also is an object of the invention to provide HMarcoSR polypeptidesthat may be employed for therapeutic purposes, for example, to treatvarious cardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis,hypertension, myocardial and cerebral infarction, angina, organ failure,stroke, gangrene, and loss of function in the extremities. It is furtherobject of the invention to use HMarcoSR to treat or diagnose septicshock, pancreatitis, mutiple organ failure, endotoxemia and infectionscaused by gram negative and gram positive bacteria Further HMarcoSRpolypeptides of the present invention can be employed to treat ordiagnose various macrophage and other immune cells related host defensedisorders. Yet further, HMarcoSR polypeptides of the present inventioncan be used to enhance host defense of a mammal.

In accordance with this aspect of the invention there are provided novelpolypeptides of human origin referred to herein as HMarcoSR as well asbiologically, diagnostically or therapeutically useful fragments,variants and derivatives thereof, variants and derivatives of thefragments, and analogs of the foregoing.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there areprovided methods of screening for compounds which bind to and activateor inhibit activation of the receptor polypeptides of the presentinvention and for receptor ligands.

It is another object of the invention to provide a process for producingthe aforementioned polypeptides, polypeptide fragments, variants andderivatives, fragments of the variants and derivatives, and analogs ofthe foregoing. In a preferred embodiment of this aspect of the inventionthere are provided methods for producing the aforementioned HMarcoSRpolypeptides comprising culturing host cells having expressiblyincorporated therein an exogenously-derived HMarcoSR-encodingpolynucleotide under conditions for expression of HMarcoSR in the hostand then recovering the expressed polypeptide.

In accordance with another object the invention there are providedproducts, compositions, processes and methods that utilize theaforementioned polypeptides and polynucleotides for research,biological, clinical and therapeutic purposes, inter alia.

In accordance with certain preferred embodiments of this aspect of theinvention, there are provided products, compositions and methods, interalia, for, among other things: assessing HMarcoSR expression in cells bydetermining HMarcoSR polypeptides or HMarcoSR-encoding mRNA; to treatvarious cardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis,hypertension, myocardial and cerebral infarction, angina, organ failure,stroke, and gangrene and loss of function in the extremities; to treator diagnose various macrophage and other immune cell related hostdefense disorders; to treat or diagnose septic shock, pancreatitis,mutiple organ failure, endotoxemia and infections caused by gramnegative and gram positive bacteria; to enhance host defense of a mammalin vitro, ex vivo or in vivo by exposing cells to HMarcoSR polypeptidesor polynucleotides as disclosed herein; assaying genetic variation andaberrations, such as defects, in HMarcoSR genes; and administering aHMarcoSR polypeptide or polynucleotide to an organism to augmentHMarcoSR function or remediate HMarcoSR dysfunction.

In accordance with still another embodiment of the present inventionthere is provided a process of using such activating compounds tostimulate the receptor polypeptides of the present invention for thetreatment of conditions related to the under-expression of the HMarcoSR.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there isprovided a process of using such inhibiting compounds for treatingconditions associated with over-expression of the HMarcoSR.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention there isprovided non-naturally occurring synthetic, isolated and/or recombinantHMarcoSR polypeptides which are fragments, consensus fragments and/orsequences having conservative amino acid substitutions, of at least onetransmembrane domain of the HMarcoSR of the present invention, such thatthe receptor may bind HMarcoSR ligands, or which may also modulate,quantitatively or qualitatively, HMarcoSR ligand binding.

In accordance with still another aspect of the present invention thereare provided synthetic or recombinant HMarcoSR polypeptides,conservative substitution and derivatives thereof, antibodies,anti-idiotype antibodies, compositions and methods that can be useful aspotential modulators of HMarcoSR function, by binding to ligands ormodulating ligand binding, due to their expected biological properties,which may be used in diagnostic, therapeutic and/or researchapplications.

It is still another object of the present invention to providesynthetic, isolated or recombinant polypeptides which are designed toinhibit or mimic various HMarcoSR or fragments thereof, as receptortypes and subtypes.

In accordance with certain preferred embodiments of this and otheraspects of the invention there are provided probes that hybridize toHMarcoSR sequences.

In certain additional preferred embodiments of this aspect of theinvention there are provided antibodies against HMarcoSR polypeptides.In certain particularly preferred embodiments in this regard, theantibodies are highly selective for HMarcoSR.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there areprovided HMarcoSR agonists. Among preferred agonists are molecules thatmimic HMarcoSR, that bind to HMarcoSR-binding molecules or receptormolecules, and that elicit or augment HMarcoSR-induced responses. Alsoamong preferred agonists are molecules that interact with HMarcoSRpolypeptides, or with other modulators of HMarcoSR activities, andthereby potentiate or augment an effect of HMarcoSR or more than oneeffect of HMarcoSR.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, thereare provided HMarcoSR antagonists. Among preferred antagonists are thosewhich mimic HMarcoSR so as to bind to HMarcoSR receptor or bindingmolecules but not elicit a HMarcoSR-induced response or more than oneHMarcoSR-induced response. Also among preferred antagonists aremolecules that bind to or interact with HMarcoSR so as to inhibit aneffect of HMarcoSR or more than one effect of HMarcoSR or which preventexpression of HMarcoSR.

In a further aspect of the invention there are provided compositionscomprising a HMarcoSR polynucleotide or a HMarcoSR polypeptide foradministration to cells in vitro, to cells ex vivo and to cells in vivo,or to a multicellular organism. In certain particularly preferredembodiments of this aspect of the invention, the compositions comprise aHMarcoSR polynucleotide for expression of a HMarcoSR polypeptide in ahost organism for treatment of disease. Particularly preferred in thisregard is expression in a human patient for treatment of a dysfunctionassociated with aberrant endogenous activity of HMarcoSR.

Other objects, features, advantages and aspects of the present inventionwill become apparent to those of skill in the art from the followingdescription. It should be understood, however, that the followingdescription and the specific examples, while indicating preferredembodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only.Various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of thedisclosed invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in theart from reading the following description and from reading the otherparts of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 shows the regions of similarity between amino acid sequences ofHMarcoSR of SEQ ID NO: 2 and HMarcoSR (murine MarcoSR) polypeptide ofSEQ ID NO: 7.

FIG. 2 shows binding results of FITC-LPS to HMarcoSR of SEQ ID NO:2.

FIG. 3 shows binding results of DiI-AcLDL to HMarcoSR of SEQ ID NO:2.

FIGS. 4A and 4B show HMarcoSR of SEQ ID NO: 6 (full sequence).

GLOSSARY

The following illustrative explanations are provided to facilitateunderstanding of certain terms used frequently herein, particularly inthe examples. The explanations are provided as a convenience and are notlimitative of the invention.

DIGESTION of DNA refers to catalytic cleavage of the DNA with arestriction enzyme that acts only at certain sequences in the DNA. Thevarious restriction enzymes referred to herein are commerciallyavailable and their reaction conditions, cofactors and otherrequirements for use are known and routine to the skilled artisan.

For analytical purposes, typically, 1 μg of plasmid or DNA fragment isdigested with about 2 units of enzyme in about 20 μl of reaction buffer.For the purpose of isolating DNA fragments for plasmid construction,typically 5 to 50 μg of DNA are digested with 20 to 250 units of enzymein proportionately larger volumes.

Appropriate buffers and substrate amounts for particular restrictionenzymes are described in standard laboratory manuals, such as thosereferenced below, and they are specified by commercial suppliers.

Incubation times of about 1 hour at 37° C. are ordinarily used, butconditions may vary in accordance with standard procedures, thesupplier's instructions and the particulars of the reaction. Afterdigestion, reactions may be analyzed, and fragments may be purified byelectrophoresis through an agarose or polyacrylamide gel, using wellknown methods that are routine for those skilled in the art.

GENETIC ELEMENT generally means a polynucleotide comprising a regionthat encodes a polypeptide or a region that regulates transcription ortranslation or other processes important to expression of thepolypeptide in a host cell, or a polynucleotide comprising both a regionthat encodes a polypeptide and a region operably linked thereto thatregulates expression.

Genetic elements may be comprised within a vector that replicates as anepisomal element; that is, as a molecule physically independent of thehost cell genome. They may be comprised within mini-chromosomes, such asthose that arise during amplification of transfected DNA by methotrexateselection in eukaryotic cells. Genetic elements also may be comprisedwithin a host cell genome; not in their natural state but, rather,following manipulation such as isolation, cloning and introduction intoa host cell in the form of purified DNA or in a vector, among others.

ISOLATED means altered "by the hand of man" from its natural state;i.e., that, if it occurs in nature, it has been changed or removed fromits original environment, or both.

For example, a naturally occurring polynucleotide or a polypeptidenaturally present in a living animal in its natural state is not"isolated," but the same polynucleotide or polypeptide separated fromthe coexisting materials of its natural state is "isolated", as the termis employed herein. For example, with respect to polynucleotides, theterm isolated means that it is separated from the chromosome and cell inwhich it naturally occurs.

As part of or following isolation, such polynucleotides can be joined toother polynucleotides, such as DNAs, for mutagenesis, to form fusionproteins, and for propagation or expression in a host, for instance. Theisolated polynucleotides, alone or joined to other polynucleotides suchas vectors, can be introduced into host cells, in culture or in wholeorganisms. Introduced into host cells in culture or in whole organisms,such DNAs still would be isolated, as the term is used herein, becausethey would not be in their naturally occurring form or environment.Similarly, the polynucleotides and polypeptides may occur in acomposition, such as a media formulations, solutions for introduction ofpolynucleotides or polypeptides, for example, into cells, compositionsor solutions for chemical or enzymatic reactions, for instance, whichare not naturally occurring compositions, and, therein remain isolatedpolynucleotides or polypeptides within the meaning of that term as it isemployed herein.

LIGATION refers to the process of forming phosphodiester bonds betweentwo or more polynucleotides, which most often are double stranded DNAS.Techniques for ligation are well known to the art and protocols forligation are described in standard laboratory manuals and references,such as, for instance, Sambrook et al., MOLECULAR CLONING, A LABORATORYMANUAL, 2nd Ed.; Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold SpringHarbor, N.Y. (1989) and Maniatis et al., pg. 146, as cited below.

OLIGONUCLEOTIDE(S) refers to relatively short polynucleotides. Often theterm refers to single-stranded deoxyribonucleotides, but it can refer aswell to single-or double-stranded ribonucleotides, RNA:DNA hybrids anddouble-stranded DNAs, among others.

Oligonucleotides, such as single-stranded DNA probe oligonucleotides,often are synthesized by chemical methods, such as those implemented onautomated oligonucleotide synthesizers. However, oligonucleotides can bemade by a variety of other methods, including in vitro recombinantDNA-mediated techniques and by expression of DNAs in cells andorganisms.

Initially, chemically synthesized DNAs typically are obtained without a5' phosphate. The 5' ends of such oligonucleotides are not substratesfor phosphodiester bond formation by ligation reactions that employ DNAligases typically used to form recombinant DNA molecules. Where ligationof such oligonucleotides is desired, a phosphate can be added bystandard techniques, such as those that employ a kinase and ATP.

The 3' end of a chemically synthesized oligonucleotide generally has afree hydroxyl group and, in the presence of a ligase, such as T4 DNAligase, readily will form a phosphodiester bond with a 5' phosphate ofanother polynucleotide, such as another oligonucleotide. As is wellknown, this reaction can be prevented selectively, where desired, byremoving the 5' phosphates of the other polynucleotide(s) prior toligation.

PLASMIDS generally are designated herein by a lower case p precededand/or followed by capital letters and/or numbers, in accordance withstandard naming conventions that are familiar to those of skill in theart. Starting plasmids disclosed herein are either commerciallyavailable, publicly available on an unrestricted basis, or can beconstructed from available plasmids by routine application of wellknown, published procedures. Many plasmids and other cloning andexpression vectors that can be used in accordance with the presentinvention are well known and readily available to those of skill in theart. Moreover, those of skill readily may construct any number of otherplasmids suitable for use in the invention. The properties, constructionand use of such plasmids, as well as other vectors, in the presentinvention will be readily apparent to those of skill from the presentdisclosure.

POLYNUCLEOTIDE(S) generally refers to any polyribonucleotide orpolydeoxribonucleotide, which may be unmodified RNA or DNA or modifiedRNA or DNA. Thus, for instance, polynucleotides as used herein refersto, among others, single-and double-stranded DNA, DNA that is a mixtureof single-and double-stranded regions, single- and double-stranded RNA,and RNA that is mixture of single- and double-stranded regions, hybridmolecules comprising DNA and RNA that may be single-stranded or, moretypically, double-stranded or a mixture of single- and double-strandedregions.

In addition, polynucleotide as used herein refers to triple-strandedregions comprising RNA or DNA or both RNA and DNA. The strands in suchregions may be from the same molecule or from different molecules. Theregions may include all of one or more of the molecules, but moretypically involve only a region of some of the molecules. One of themolecules of a triple-helical region often is an oligonucleotide.

As used herein, the term polynucleotide includes DNAs or RNAs asdescribed above that contain one or more modified bases. Thus, DNAs orRNAs with backbones modified for stability or for other reasons are"polynucleotides" as that term is intended herein. Moreover, DNAs orRNAs comprising unusual bases, such as inosine, or modified bases, suchas tritylated bases, to name just two examples, are polynucleotides asthe term is used herein.

It will be appreciated that a great variety of modifications have beenmade to DNA and RNA that serve many useful purposes known to those ofskill in the art. The term polynucleotide as it is employed hereinembraces such chemically, enzymatically or metabolically modified formsof polynucleotides, as well as the chemical forms of DNA and RNAcharacteristic of viruses and cells, including simple and complex cells,inter alia.

POLYPEPTIDES, as used herein, includes all polypeptides as describedbelow. The basic structure of polypeptides is well known and has beendescribed in innumerable textbooks and other publications in the art. Inthis context, the term is used herein to refer to any peptide or proteincomprising two or more amino acids joined to each other in a linearchain by peptide bonds. As used herein, the term refers to both shortchains, which also commonly are referred to in the art as peptides,oligopeptides and oligomers, for example, and to longer chains, whichgenerally are referred to in the art as proteins, of which there aremany types.

It will be appreciated that polypeptides often contain amino acids otherthan the 20 amino acids commonly referred to as the 20 naturallyoccurring amino acids, and that many amino acids, including the terminalamino acids, may be modified in a given polypeptide, either by naturalprocesses, such as processing and other post-translationalmodifications, but also by chemical modification techniques which arewell known to the art. Even the common modifications that occurnaturally in polypeptides are too numerous to list exhaustively here,but they are well described in basic texts and in more detailedmonographs, as well as in a voluminous research literature, and they arewell known to those of skill in the art.

Among the known modifications which may be present in polypeptides ofthe present are, to name an illustrative few, acetylation, acylation,ADP-ribosylation, amidation, covalent attachment of flavin, covalentattachment of a heme moiety, covalent attachment of a nucleotide ornucleotide derivative, covalent attachment of a lipid or lipidderivative, covalent attachment of phosphotidylinositol, cross-linking,cyclization, disulfide bond formation, demethylation, formation ofcovalent cross-links, formation of cystine, formation of pyroglutamate,formylation, gamma-carboxylation, glycosylation, GPI anchor formation,hydroxylation, iodination, methylation, myristoylation, oxidation,proteolytic processing, phosphorylation, prenylation, racemization,selenoylation, sulfation, transfer-RNA mediated addition of amino acidsto proteins such as arginylation, and ubiquitination.

Such modifications are well known to those of skill and have beendescribed in great detail in the scientific literature. Severalparticularly common modifications, glycosylation, lipid attachment,sulfation, gamma-carboxylation of glutamic acid residues, hydroxylationand ADP-ribosylation, for instance, are described in most basic texts,such as, for instance PROTEINS--STRUCTURE AND MOLECULAR PROPERTIES, 2ndEd., T. E. Creighton, W. H. Freeman and Company, New York (1993). Manydetailed reviews are available on this subject, such as, for example,those provided by Wold, F., Posttranslational Protein Modifications:Perspectives and Prospects, pgs. 1-12 in POSTRANSLATIONAL COVALENTMODIFICATION OF PROTEINS, B. C. Johnson, Ed., Academic Press, New York(1983); Seifter et al., Analysis for protein modifications andnonprotein cofactors, Meth. Enzymol. 182: 626-646 (1990) and Rattan etal., Protein Synthesis: Posttranslational Modifications and Aging, Ann.N.Y. Acad. Sci. 663: 48-62 (1992).

It will be appreciated, as is well known and as noted above, thatpolypeptides are not always entirely linear. For instance, polypeptidesmay be branched as a result of ubiquitination, and they may be circular,with or without branching, generally as a result of posttranslationevents, including natural processing event and events brought about byhuman manipulation which do not occur naturally. Circular, branched andbranched circular polypeptides may be synthesized by non-translationnatural process and by entirely synthetic methods, as well.

Modifications can occur anywhere in a polypeptide, including the peptidebackbone, the amino acid side-chains and the amino or carboxyl termini.In fact, blockage of the amino or carboxyl group in a polypeptide, orboth, by a covalent modification, is common in naturally occurring andsynthetic polypeptides and such modifications may be present inpolypeptides of the present invention, as well. For instance, the aminoterminal residue of polypeptides made in E. coli, prior to proteolyticprocessing, almost invariably will be N-formylmethionine.

The modifications that occur in a polypeptide often will be a functionof how it is made. For polypeptides made by expressing a cloned gene ina host, for instance, the nature and extent of the modifications inlarge part will be determined by the host cell posttranslationalmodification capacity and the modification signals present in thepolypeptide amino acid sequence. For instance, as is well known,glycosylation often does not occur in bacterial hosts such as E. coli.Accordingly, when glycosylation is desired, a polypeptide should beexpressed in a glycosylating host, generally a eukaryotic cell. Insectcell often carry out the same posttranslational glycosylations asmammalian cells and, for this reason, insect cell expression systemshave been developed to express efficiently mammalian proteins havingnative patterns of glycosylation, inter alia. Similar considerationsapply to other modifications.

It will be appreciated that the same type of modification may be presentin the same or varying degree at several sites in a given polypeptide.Also, a given polypeptide may contain many types of modifications.

In general, as used herein, the term polypeptide encompasses all suchmodifications, particularly those that are present in polypeptidessynthesized by expressing a polynucleotide in a host cell.

VARIANT(S) of polynucleotides or polypeptides, as the term is usedherein, are polynucleotides or polypeptides that differ from a referencepolynucleotide or polypeptide, respectively. Variants in this sense aredescribed below and elsewhere in the present disclosure in greaterdetail.

(1) A polynucleotide that differs in nucleotide sequence from another,reference polynucleotide. Generally, differences are limited so that thenucleotide sequences of the reference and the variant are closelysimilar overall and, in many regions, identical.

As noted below, changes in the nucleotide sequence of the variant may besilent. That is, they may not alter the amino acids encoded by thepolynucleotide. Where alterations are limited to silent changes of thistype a variant will encode a polypeptide with the same amino acidsequence as the reference. Also as noted below, changes in thenucleotide sequence of the variant may alter the amino acid sequence ofa polypeptide encoded by the reference polynucleotide. Such nucleotidechanges may result in amino acid substitutions, additions, deletions,fusions and truncations in the polypeptide encoded by the referencesequence, as discussed below.

(2) A polypeptide that differs in amino acid sequence from another,reference polypeptide. Generally, differences are limited so that thesequences of the reference and the variant are closely similar overalland, in many region, identical.

A variant and reference polypeptide may differ in amino acid sequence byone or more substitutions, additions, deletions, fusions andtruncations, which may be present in any combination.

FUSION PROTEINS: EP-A-O 464 533 (Canadian counterpart 2045869) disclosesfusion proteins comprising various portions of constant region ofimmunoglobin molecules together with another human protein or partthereof. In many cases, the Fc part in fusion protein is thoroghlyadvantageous for use in therapy and diagnosis and thus results, forexample, in improved pharmacokinetic properties (EP-A 0232 262). On theother hand, for some uses it would be desirable to be able to delete theFc part after the fusion protein has been expressed, detected andpurified in the advantageous manner described. This is the case when Fcportion proves to be a hindrance to use in therapy and diagnosis, forexample when the fusion protein is to be used as antigen forimmunizations. In drug discovery, for example, human proteins, such as,shIL5-α has been fused with Fc portions for the purpose ofhigh-throughput screening assays to identify antagonists of hIL-5. See,D. Bennett et aL, Journal of Molecular Recognition, Vol. 8 52-58 (1995)and K. Johanson et al, The Journal of Biological Chemistry, Vol. 270,No. 16, pp 9459-9471 (1995).

Thus, this invention also relates to genetically engineered solublefusion proteins comprised from HMarcoSR, or a portion thereof, and ofvarious portions of the constant regions of heavy or light chains ofimmunoglobulins of various subclass (IgG, IgM, IgA, IgE). Preferred asimmunoglobulin is the constant part of the heavy chain of human IgG,particularly IgG1, where fusion takes place at the hinge region. In aparticular embodiment, the Fc part can be removed in a simple way by acleavage sequence which is also incorporated and can be cleaved withfactor Xa. Furthermore, this invention relates to processes for thepreparation of these fusion by genetic engineering, and to the usethereof for diagnosis and therapy.

RECEPTOR MOLECULE, as used herein, refers to molecules of the presentinvention, including but not limited to HMarcoSR polyptides, as well asmolecules which bind or interact specifically with HMarcoSR polypeptidesof the present invention, including not only classic receptors, whichare preferred, but also other molecules that specifically bind to orinteract with polypeptides of the invention (which also may be referredto as "binding molecules" and "interaction molecules," respectively andas "HMarcoSR binding molecules" and "HMarcoSR interaction molecules.")Binding between polypeptides of the invention and such molecules,including receptor or binding or interaction molecules may be exclusiveto polypeptides of the invention, which is very highly preferred, or itmay be highly specific for polypeptides of the invention, which ishighly preferred, or it may be highly specific to a group of proteinsthat includes polypeptides of the invention, which is preferred, or itmay be specific to several groups of proteins at least one of whichincludes polypeptides of the invention.

Receptors also may be non-naturally occurring, such as antibodies andantibody-derived reagents that bind specifically to polypeptides of theinvention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to novel HMarcoSR polypeptides andpolynucleotides, among other things, as described in greater detailbelow. In particular, the invention relates to polypeptides andpolynucleotides of a novel HMarcoSR, which is related by amino acidsequence homology to MMarcoSR polypeptide and human collagen. Theinvention relates especially to HMarcoSR having the nucleotide and aminoacid sequences set out in FIGS. 1, 4A and 4B, and to the HMarcoSRnucleotide and amino acid sequences of the human cDNA in ATCC DepositNo. 98015 deposited Mar. 21, 1996, which is herein referred to as "thedeposited clone" or as the "cDNA of the deposited clone." It will beappreciated that the nucleotide sequence set out in SEQ ID NO: 1 wasobtained by sequencing the cDNA of the deposited clone. Hence, thesequence of the deposited clone is controlling as to any discrepanciesbetween the sequence in the deposited clone and that of sequence of SEQID NO: 1.

Polynudeotides

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there areprovided isolated polynucleotides which encode the HMarcoSR polypeptidehaving the deduced amino acid sequences of FIGS. 1, 4A and 4B (SEQ IDNOS: 2 and 6).

Using the information provided herein, such as the polynucleotidesequence set out in SEQ ID NOS: 1 and 5, a polynucleotide of the presentinvention encoding HMarcoSR polypeptide may be obtained using standardcloning and screening procedures, such as those for cloning cDNAs usingmRNA from cells of human pulmonary artery and from human smooth musclecells as starting material. Illustrative of the invention, thepolynucleotides set out in SEQ ID NOS: 1 and 5 are discovered in a cDNAlibrary derived from cells of human bone marrow and pulmonary arterytissue.

HMarcoSR of the invention is structurally related to other proteins ofthe scavenger receptor, as shown by the results of sequencing the cDNAencoding HMarcoSR. The amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 exhibitsgreatest homology to MMarcoSR protein, among known proteins, with about70.1% identity and about 78.1% similarity . The amino acid sequence ofSEQ ID NO: 6 has about 27% identity and 47% similarity to the humanMarco receptor.

Polynucleotides of the present invention may be in the form of RNA, suchas mRNA, or in the form of DNA, including, for instance, cDNA andgenomic DNA obtained by cloning or produced by chemical synthetictechniques or by a combination thereof. The DNA may be double-strandedor single-stranded. Single-stranded DNA may be the coding strand, alsoknown as the sense strand, or it may be the non-coding strand, alsoreferred to as the anti-sense strand.

The coding sequence which encodes the polypeptide may be identical tothe coding sequence of the polynucleotide shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 or 5. Italso may be a polynucleotide with a different sequence, which, as aresult of the redundancy (degeneracy) of the genetic code, encodes thepolypeptide of the DNA of SEQ ID NO: 2 or 6.

Polynucleotides of the present invention which encode the polypeptidesof FIGS. 1, 4A and 4B may include, but are not limited to the codingsequence for the mature polypeptide, by itself; the coding sequence forthe mature polypeptide and additional coding sequences, such as thoseencoding a leader or secretory sequence, such as a pre- or pro- orprepro- protein sequence; the coding sequence of the mature polypeptide,with or without the aforementioned additional coding sequences, togetherwith additional, non-coding sequences, including for example, but notlimited to introns and non-coding 5' and 3' sequences, such as thetranscribed, non-translated sequences that play a role in transcription,mRNA processing--including splicing and polyadenylation signals, forexample--ribosome binding and stability of mRNA; additional codingsequence which codes for additional amino acids, such as those whichprovide additional functionalities. Thus, for instance, the polypeptidemay be fused to a marker sequence, such as a peptide, which facilitatespurification of the fused polypeptide. In certain preferred embodimentsof this aspect of the invention, the marker sequence is a hexa-histidinepeptide, such as the tag provided in the pQE vector (Qiagen, Inc.),among others, many of which are commercially available. As described inGentz et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA 86: 821-824 (1989), forinstance, hexa-histidine provides for convenient purification of thefusion protein. The HA tag corresponds to an epitope derived ofinfluenza hexa-histidine protein, which has been described by Wilson etal., Cell 37: 767 (1984), for instance.

In accordance with the foregoing, the term "polynucleotide encoding apolypeptide" as used herein encompasses polynucleotides which include asequence encoding a polypeptide of the present invention, particularlythe HMarcoSR having the amino acid sequence set out in FIGS. 1 or 4A and4B. The term also encompasses polynucleotides that include a singlecontinuous region or discontinuous regions encoding the polypeptide (forexample, interrupted by introns) together with additional regions, thatalso may contain coding and/or non-coding sequences.

The present invention further relates to variants of the herein abovedescribed polynucleotides which encode for fragments, analogs andderivatives of the polypeptide having the deduced amino acid sequencesof FIGS. 1 4A and 4B. A variant of the polynucleotide may be a naturallyoccurring variant such as a naturally occurring allelic variant, or itmay be a variant that is not known to occur naturally. Suchnon-naturally occurring variants of the polynucleotide may be made bymutagenesis techniques, including those applied to polynucleotides,cells or organisms.

Among variants in this regard are variants that differ from theaforementioned polynucleotides by nucleotide substitutions, deletions oradditions. The substitutions, deletions or additions may involve one ormore nucleotides. The variants may be altered in coding or non-codingregions or both. Alterations in the coding regions may produceconservative or non-conservative amino acid substitutions, deletions oradditions.

Among the particularly preferred embodiments of the invention in thisregard are polynucleotides encoding polypeptides having the amino acidsequences of HMarcoSR set out in FIGS. 1, 4A and 4B; variants, analogs,derivatives and fragments thereof, and fragments of the variants,analogs and derivatives.

Further particularly preferred in this regard are polynucleotidesencoding HMarcoSR variants, analogs, derivatives and fragments, andvariants, analogs and derivatives of the fragments, which have the aminoacid sequences of the HMarcoSR polypeptides of FIGS. 1, 4A and 4B inwhich several, a few, 5 to 10, 1 to 5, 1 to 3, 2, 1 or no amino acidresidues are substituted, deleted or added, in any combination.Especially preferred among these are silent substitutions, additions anddeletions, which do not alter the properties and activities of theHMarcoSR. Also especially preferred in this regard are conservativesubstitutions. Most highly preferred are polynucleotides encodingpolypeptides having the amino acid sequences of FIGS. 4A and 4B, withoutsubstitutions.

Further preferred embodiments of the invention are polynucleotides thatare at least 70% identical to a polynucleotide encoding the HMarcoSRpolypeptide having the amino acid sequence set out in FIGS. 1, or 4A and4B, and polynucleotides which are complementary to such polynucleotides.Alteratively, most highly preferred are polynucleotides that comprise aregion that is at least 80% identical to a polynucleotide encoding theHMarcoSR polypeptide of the human cDNA of the deposited clone andpolynucleotides complementary thereto. In this regard, polynucleotidesat least 90% identical to the same are particularly preferred, and amongthese particularly preferred polynucleotides, those with at least 95%are especially preferred. Furthermore, those with at least 97% arehighly preferred among those with at least 95%, and among these thosewith at least 98% and at least 99% are particularly highly preferred,with at least 99% being the more preferred.

Particularly preferred embodiments in this respect, moreover, arepolynucleotides which encode polypeptides which retain substantially thesame biological function or activity as the mature polypeptide encodedby the cDNA of SEQ ID NO: 1 or 5.

The present invention further relates to polynucleotides that hybridizeto the herein above-described sequences. In this regard, the presentinvention especially relates to polynucleotides which hybridize understringent conditions to the herein above-described polynucleotides. Asherein used, the term "stringent conditions" means hybridization willoccur only if there is at least 95% and preferably at least 97% identitybetween the sequences.

As discussed additionally herein regarding polynucleotide assays of theinvention, for instance, polynucleotides of the invention as discussedabove, may be used as a hybridization probe for cDNA and genomic DNA toisolate full-length cDNAs and genomic clones encoding HMarcoSR and toisolate cDNA and genomic clones of other genes that have a high sequencesimilarity to the HMarcoSR gene. Such probes generally will comprise atleast 15 bases. Preferably, such probes will have at least 30 bases andmay have at least 50 bases. Particularly preferred probes will have atleast 30 bases and will have 50 bases or less.

For example, the coding region of the HMarcoSR gene may be isolated byscreening using the known DNA sequence to synthesize an oligonucleotideprobe. A labeled oligonucleotide having a sequence complementary to thatof a gene of the present invention is then used to screen a library ofhuman cDNA, genomic DNA or mRNA to determine which members of thelibrary the probe hybridizes to.

The polynucleotides and polypeptides of the present invention may beemployed as research reagents and materials for discovery of treatmentsand diagnostics to human disease, as further discussed herein relatingto polynucleotide assays, inter alia.

The polynucleotides may encode a polypeptide which is the mature proteinplus additional amino or carboxyl-terminal amino acids, or amino acidsinterior to the mature polypeptide (when the mature form has more thanone polypeptide chain, for instance). Such sequences may play a role inprocessing of a protein from precursor to a mature form, may facilitateprotein trafficking, may prolong or shorten protein half-life or mayfacilitate manipulation of a protein for assay or production, amongother things. As generally is the case in situ, the additional aminoacids may be processed away from the mature protein by cellular enzymes.

A precursor protein, having the mature form of the polypeptide fused toone or more prosequences may be an inactive form of the polypeptide.When prosequences are removed such inactive precursors generally areactivated. Some or all of the prosequences may be removed beforeactivation. Generally, such precursors are called proproteins.

In sum, a polynucleotide of the present invention may encode a matureprotein, a mature protein plus a leader sequence (which may be referredto as a preprotein), a precursor of a mature protein having one or moreprosequences which are not the leader sequences of a preprotein, or apreproprotein, which is a precursor to a proprotein, having a leadersequence and one or more prosequences, which generally are removedduring processing steps that produce active and mature forms of thepolypeptide.

Deposited materials

A deposit containing a HMarcoSR cDNA has been deposited with theAmerican Type Culture Collection, as noted above. Also as noted above,the human cDNA deposit is referred to herein as "the deposited clone" oras "the cDNA of the deposited clone."

The deposited clone is deposited with the American Type CultureCollection, 10801 University Boulevard, Manassas, Va. 20110-2209, USA,on Mar. 21, 1996, and assigned ATCC Deposit No. 98015.

The deposited material is a Bluescript SK (-) plasmid (Stratagene, LaJolla, Calif.)! that contains the full length HMarcoSR cDNA, referred toas pHAPCC46 upon deposit.

The deposit has been made under the terms of the Budapest Treaty on theinternational recognition of the deposit of micro-organisms for purposesof patent procedure. The strain will be irrevocably and withoutrestriction or condition released to the public upon the issuance of apatent. The deposit is provided merely as convenience to those of skillin the art and is not an admission that a deposit is required forenablement, such as that required under 35 U.S.C. §112.

The sequence of the polynucleotides contained in the deposited material,as well as the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide encoded thereby,are controlling in the event of any conflict with any description ofsequences herein.

Polypeptides

The present invention further relates to a HMarcoSR polypeptides whichhave the deduced amino acid sequences of FIGS. 1, 4A and 4B.

The invention also relates to fragments, analogs and derivatives ofthese polypeptides. The terms "fragment," "derivative" and "analog" whenreferring to the polypeptide of FIGS. 1 or 4A and 4B, means apolypeptide which retains essentially the same biological function oractivity as such polypeptide, i.e. functions as a HMarcoSR, or retainsthe ability to bind the ligand or the receptor even though thepolypeptide does not function as a HMarcoSR, for example, a soluble formof the receptor. Thus, an analog includes a proprotein which can beactivated by cleavage of the proprotein portion to produce an activemature polypeptide.

The polypeptide of the present invention may be a recombinantpolypeptide, a natural polypeptide or a synthetic polypeptide. Incertain preferred embodiments it is a recombinant polypeptide.

The fragment, derivative or analog of the polypeptide of FIGS. 1 or 4Aand 4B may be (i) one in which one or more of the amino acid residuesare substituted with a conserved or non-conserved amino acid residue(preferably a conserved amino acid residue) and such substituted aminoacid residue may or may not be one encoded by the genetic code, or (ii)one in which one or more of the amino acid residues includes asubstituent group, or (iii) one in which the mature polypeptide is fusedwith another compound, such as a compound to increase the half-life ofthe polypeptide (for example, polyethylene glycol), or (iv) one in whichthe additional amino acids are fused to the mature polypeptide, such asa leader or secretory sequence or a sequence which is employed forpurification of the mature polypeptide or a proprotein sequence. Suchfragments, derivatives and analogs are deemed to be within the scope ofthose skilled in the art from the teachings herein.

Among the particularly preferred embodiments of the invention in thisregard are polypeptides having the amino acid sequence of HMarcoSR setout in FIGS. 1, 4A and 4B, variants, analogs, derivatives and fragmentsthereof, and variants, analogs and derivatives of the fragments.Alternatively, particularly preferred embodiments of the invention inthis regard are polypeptides having the amino acid sequence of theHMarcoSR, variants, analogs, derivatives and fragments thereof, andvariants, analogs and derivatives of the fragments.

Among preferred variants are those that vary from a reference byconservative amino acid substitutions. Such substitutions are those thatsubstitute a given amino acid in a polypeptide by another amino acid oflike characteristics. Typically seen as conservative substitutions arethe replacements, one for another, among the aliphatic amino acids Ala,Val, Leu and Ile; interchange of the hydroxyl residues Ser and Thr,exchange of the acidic residues Asp and Glu, substitution between theamide residues Asn and Gln, exchange of the basic residues Lys and Argand replacements among the aromatic residues Phe, Tyr.

Further particularly preferred in this regard are variants, analogs,derivatives and fragments, and variants, analogs and derivatives of thefragments, having the amino acid sequences of the HMarcoSR polypeptidesof FIGS. 1, 4A and 4B, in which several, a few, 5 to 10, 1 to 5, 1 to 3,2, 1 or no amino acid residues are substituted, deleted or added, in anycombination. Especially preferred among these are silent substitutions,additions and deletions, which do not alter the properties andactivities of the HMarcoSR. Also especially preferred in this regard areconservative substitutions. Most highly preferred are polypeptideshaving the amino acid sequences of FIG. 1, 4A and 4B withoutsubstitutions.

The polypeptides and polynucleotides of the present invention arepreferably provided in an isolated form, and preferably are purified tohomogeneity.

The polypeptides of the present invention include the polypeptide of SEQID NO:6 (in particular the mature polypeptide) as well as polypeptideswhich have at least 80% identity to the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:6 andmore preferably at least 90% similarity (more preferably at least 90%identity) to the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:6 and still more preferably atleast 95% similarity (still more preferably at least 95% identity) tothe polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:6 and also include portions of suchpolypeptides with such portion of the polypeptide generally containingat least 30 amino acids and more preferably at least 50 amino acids.

As known in the art "similarity" between two polypeptides is determinedby comparing the amino acid sequence and its conserved amino acidsubstitutes of one polypeptide to the sequence of a second polypeptide.Moreover, also known in the art is "identity" which means the degree ofsequence relatedness between two polypptide or two polynucleotidessequences as determined by the identity of the match between two stringsof such sequences. Both identity and similarity can be readilycalculated (Computational Molecular Biology, Lesk, A. M., ed., OxfordUniversity Press, New York, 1988; Biocomputing: Informatics and GenomeProjects, Smith, D. W., ed., Academic Press, New York, 1993; ComputerAnalysis of Sequence Data, Part I, Griffin, A. M., and Griffin, H. G.,eds., Humana Press, New Jersey, 1994; Sequence Analysis in MolecularBiology, von Heinje, G., Academic Press, 1987; and Sequence AnalysisPrimer, Gribskov, M. and Devereux, J., eds., M Stockton Press, New York,1991). While there exist a number of methods to measure identity andsimilarity between two polynucleotide or polypeptide sequences, theterms "identity"0 and "similarity" are well known to skilled artisans(Sequence Analysis in Molecular Biology, von Heinje, G., Academic Press,1987; Sequence Analysis Primer, Gribskov, M. and Devereux, J., eds., MStockton Press, New York, 1991; and Carillo, H., and Lipman, D., SIAM J.Applied Math., 48: 1073 (1988). Methods commonly employed to determineidentity or similarity between two sequences include, but are notlimited to disclosed in Guide to Huge Computers, Martin J. Bishop, ed.,Academic Press, San Diego, 1994, and Carillo, H., and Lipman, D., SIAMJ. Applied Math., 48: 1073 (1988). Preferred methods to determineidentity are designed to give the largest match between the twosequences tested. Methods to determine identity and similarity arecodified in computer programs. Preferred computer program methods todetermine identity and similarity between two sequences include, but arenot limited to, GCG program package (Devereux, J., et al., Nucleic AcidsResearch 12(1): 387 (1984)), BLASTP, BLASIN, FASTA (Atschul, S. F. etal., J. Molec. Biol. 215: 403 (1990)).

Fragments or portions of the polypeptides of the present invention maybe employed for producing the corresponding full-length polypeptide bypeptide synthesis; therefore, the fragments may be employed asintermediates for producing the full-length polypeptides. Fragments orportions of the polynucleotides of the present invention may be used tosynthesize full-length polynucleotides of the present invention.

Fragments

Also among preferred embodiments of this aspect of the present inventionare polypeptides comprising fragments of HMarcoSR, most particularlyfragments of the HMarcoSR having the amino acid sequences set out inFIGS. 4A and 4B, and fragments of variants and derivatives of theHMarcoSR of FIGS. 1, 4A and 4B.

In this regard a fragment is a polypeptide having an amino acid sequencethat entirely is the same as part but not all of the amino acid sequenceof the aforementioned HMarcoSR polypeptides and variants or derivativesthereof.

Such fragments may be "free-standing," i.e., not part of or fused toother amino acids or polypeptides, or they may be comprised within alarger polypeptide of which they form a part or region. When comprisedwithin a larger polypeptide, the presently discussed fragments mostpreferably form a single continuous region. However, several fragmentsmay be comprised within a single larger polypeptide. For instance,certain preferred embodiments relate to a fragment of a HMarcoSRpolypeptide of the present comprised within a precursor polypeptidedesigned for expression in a host and having heterologous pre andpro-polypeptide regions fused to the amino terminus of the HMarcoSRfragment and an additional region fused to the carboxyl terminus of thefragment. Therefore, fragments in one aspect of the meaning intendedherein, refers to the portion or portions of a fusion polypeptide orfusion protein derived from HMarcoSR.

As representative examples of polypeptide fragments of the invention,there may be mentioned those which have from about 62 to about 511 aminoacids which lack the transmembrane domain and forms a soluble receptor.

In this context about includes the particularly recited range and rangeslarger or smaller by several, a few, 5, 4, 3, 2 or 1 amino acid ateither extreme or at both extremes. For instance, about 62-90 aminoacids in this context means a polypeptide fragment of 62 plus or minusseveral, a few, 5, 4, 3, 2 or 1 amino acids to 90 plus or minus severala few, 5, 4, 3, 2 or 1 amino acid residues, i.e., ranges as broad as 62minus several amino acids to 90 plus several amino acids to as narrow as62 plus several amino acids to 90 minus several amino acids.

Highly preferred in this regard are the recited ranges plus or minus asmany as 5 amino acids at either or at both extremes. Particularly highlypreferred are the recited ranges plus or minus as many as 3 amino acidsat either or at both the recited extremes. Especially particularlyhighly preferred are ranges plus or minus 1 amino acid at either or atboth extremes or the recited ranges with no additions or deletions. Mosthighly preferred of all in this regard are fragments from about 62 to511 amino acids long.

Among especially preferred fragments of the invention are truncationmutants of HMarcoSR. Truncation mutants include HMarcoSR polypeptideshaving the amino acid sequences of FIGS. 1, 4A and 4, or of variants orderivatives thereof, except for deletion of a continuous series ofresidues (that is, a continuous region, part or portion) that includesthe amino terminus, or a continuous series of residues that includes thecarboxyl terminus or, as in double truncation mutants, deletion of twocontinuous series of residues, one including the amino terminus and oneincluding the carboxyl terminus. Fragments having the size ranges setout about also are preferred embodiments of truncation fragments, whichare especially preferred among fragments generally.

Also preferred in this aspect of the invention are fragmentscharacterized by structural or functional attributes of HMarcoSR.Preferred embodiments of the invention in this regard include fragmentsthat comprise alpha-helix and alpha-helix forming regions("alpha-regions"), beta-sheet and beta-sheet-forming regions("beta-regions"), turn and turn-forming regions ("turn-regions"), coiland coil-forming regions ("coil-regions"), hydrophilic regions,hydrophobic regions, alpha amphipathic regions, beta amphipathicregions, flexible regions, surface-forming regions and high antigenicindex regions of HMarcoSR.

Among highly preferred fragments in this regard are those that compriseregions of HMarcoSR that combine several structural features, such asseveral of the features set out above. In this regard, the regionsdefined by the residues about 10 to about 20, about 40 to about 50,about 70 to about 90 and about 100 to about 113 of FIG. 1 or 4A and 4B,which all are characterized by amino acid compositions highlycharacteristic of turn-regions, hydrophilic regions, flexible-regions,surface-forming regions, and high antigenic index-regions, areespecially highly preferred regions. Such regions may be comprisedwithin a larger polypeptide or may be by themselves a preferred fragmentof the present invention, as discussed above. It will be appreciatedthat the term "about" as used in this paragraph has the meaning set outabove regarding fragments in general.

Further preferred regions are those that mediate activities of HMarcoSR.Most highly preferred in this regard are fragments that have a chemical,biological or other activity of HMarcoSR, including those with a similaractivity or an improved activity, or with a decreased undesirableactivity. Highly preferred in this regard are fragments that containregions that are homologs in sequence, or in position, or in bothsequence and to active regions of related polypeptides, such as therelated polypeptides set out in FIGS. 1 or 4A and 4B, which includeMMarcoSR. Among particularly preferred fragments in these regards aretruncation mutants, as discussed above.

It will be appreciated that the invention also relates to, among others,polynucleotides encoding the aforementioned fragments, polynucleotidesthat hybridize to polynucleotides encoding the fragments, particularlythose that hybridize under stringent conditions, and polynucleotides,such as PCR primers, for amplifying polynucleotides that encode thefragments. In these regards, preferred polynucleotides are those thatcorrespondent to the preferred fragments, as discussed above.

Vectors, host cells, expression

The present invention also relates to vectors which includepolynucleotides of the present invention, host cells which aregenetically engineered with vectors of the invention and the productionof polypeptides of the invention by recombinant techniques.

Host cells can be genetically engineered to incorporate polynucleotidesand express polypeptides of the present invention. For instance,polynucleotides may be introduced into host cells using well knowntechniques of infection, transduction, transfection, transvection andtransformation. The polynucleotides may be introduced alone or withother polynucleotides. Such other polynucleotides may be introducedindependently, co-introduced or introduced joined to the polynucleotidesof the invention.

Thus, for instance, polynucleotides of the invention may be transfectedinto host cells with another, separate, polynucleotide encoding aselectable marker, using standard techniques for co-transfection andselection in, for instance, mammalian cells. In this case thepolynucleotides generally will be stably incorporated into the host cellgenome.

Alternatively, the polynucleotides may be joined to a vector containinga selectable marker for propagation in a host. The vector construct maybe introduced into host cells by the aforementioned techniques.Generally, a plasmid vector is introduced as DNA in a precipitate, suchas a calcium phosphate precipitate, or in a complex with a chargedlipid. Electroporation also may be used to introduce polynucleotidesinto a host. If the vector is a virus, it may be packaged in vitro orintroduced into a packaging cell and the packaged virus may betransduced into cells. A wide variety of techniques suitable for makingpolynucleotides and for introducing polynucleotides into cells inaccordance with this aspect of the invention are well known and routineto those of skill in the art. Such techniques are reviewed at length inSambrook et al. cited above, which is illustrative of the manylaboratory manuals that detail these techniques. In accordance with thisaspect of the invention the vector may be, for example, a plasmidvector, a single or double-stranded phage vector, a single ordouble-stranded RNA or DNA viral vector. Such vectors may be introducedinto cells as polynucleotides, preferably DNA, by well known techniquesfor introducing DNA and RNA into cells. The vectors, in the case ofphage and viral vectors also may be and preferably are introduced intocells as packaged or encapsidated virus by well known techniques forinfection and transduction. Viral vectors may be replication competentor replication defective. In the latter case viral propagation generallywill occur only in complementing host cells.

Preferred among vectors, in certain respects, are those for expressionof polynucleotides and polypeptides of the present invention. Generally,such vectors comprise cis-acting control regions effective forexpression in a host operatively linked to the polynucleotide to beexpressed. Appropriate trans-acting factors either are supplied by thehost, supplied by a complementing vector or supplied by the vectoritself upon introduction into the host.

In certain preferred embodiments in this regard, the vectors provide forspecific expression. Such specific expression may be inducibleexpression or expression only in certain types of cells or bothinducible and cell-specific. Particularly preferred among induciblevectors are vectors that can be induced for expression by environmentalfactors that are easy to manipulate, such as temperature and nutrientadditives. A variety of vectors suitable to this aspect of theinvention, including constitutive and inducible expression vectors foruse in prokaryotic and eukaryotic hosts, are well known and employedroutinely by those of skill in the art.

The engineered host cells can be cultured in conventional nutrientmedia, which may be modified as appropriate for, inter alia, activatingpromoters, selecting transformants or amplifying genes. Cultureconditions, such as temperature, pH and the like, previously used withthe host cell selected for expression generally will be suitable forexpression of polypeptides of the present invention as will be apparentto those of skill in the art.

A great variety of expression vectors can be used to express apolypeptide of the invention. Such vectors include chromosomal, episomaland virus-derived vectors e.g., vectors derived from bacterial plasmids,from bacteriophage, from yeast episomes, from yeast chromosomalelements, from viruses such as baculoviruses, papova viruses, such asSV40, vaccinia viruses, adenoviruses, fowl pox viruses, pseudorabiesviruses and retroviruses, and vectors derived from combinations thereof,such as those derived from plasmid and bacteriophage genetic elements,such as cosmids and phagemids, all may be used for expression inaccordance with this aspect of the present invention. Generally, anyvector suitable to maintain, propagate or express polynucleotides toexpress a polypeptide in a host may be used for expression in thisregard.

The appropriate DNA sequence may be inserted into the vector by any of avariety of well-known and routine techniques. In general, a DNA sequencefor expression is joined to an expression vector by cleaving the DNAsequence and the expression vector with one or more restrictionendonucleases and then joining the restriction fragments together usingT4 DNA ligase. Procedures for restriction and ligation that can be usedto this end are well known and routine to those of skill. Suitableprocedures in this regard, and for constructing expression vectors usingalternative techniques, which also are well known and routine to thoseskilled in the art, are set forth in great detail in Sambrook et al.cited elsewhere herein.

The DNA sequence in the expression vector is operatively linked toappropriate expression control sequence(s), including, for instance, apromoter to direct mRNA transcription. Representatives of such promotersinclude the phage lambda PL promoter, the E. coli lac, trp and tacpromoters, the SV40 early and late promoters and promoters of retroviralLTRs, to name just a few of the well-known promoters. It will beunderstood that numerous promoters not mentioned are suitable for use inthis aspect of the invention are well known and readily may be employedby those of skill in the manner illustrated by the discussion and theexamples herein.

In general, expression constructs will contain sites for transcriptioninitiation and termination, and, in the transcribed region, a ribosomebinding site for translation. The coding portion of the maturetranscripts expressed by the constructs will include a translationinitiating AUG at the beginning and a termination codon appropriatelypositioned at the end of the polypeptide to be translated.

In addition, the constructs may contain control regions that regulate aswell as engender expression. Generally, in accordance with many commonlypracticed procedures, such regions will operate by controllingtranscription, such as repressor binding sites and enhancers, amongothers.

Vectors for propagation and expression generally will include selectablemarkers. Such markers also may be suitable for amplification or thevectors may contain additional markers for this purpose. In this regard,the expression vectors preferably contain one or more selectable markergenes to provide a phenotypic trait for selection of transformed hostcells. Preferred markers include dihydrofolate reductase or neomycinresistance for eukaryotic cell culture, and tetracycline or ampicillinresistance genes for culturing E. coli and other bacteria.

The vector containing the appropriate DNA sequence as describedelsewhere herein, as well as an appropriate promoter, and otherappropriate control sequences, may be introduced into an appropriatehost using a variety of well known techniques suitable to expressiontherein of a desired polypeptide. Representative examples of appropriatehosts include bacterial cells, such as E. coli, Streptomyces andSalmonella typhimurium cells; fungal cells, such as yeast cells; insectcells such as Drosophila S2 and Spodoptera Sf9 cells; animal cells suchas CHO, COS and Bowes melanoma cells; and plant cells. Hosts for of agreat variety of expression constructs are well known, and those ofskill will be enabled by the present disclosure readily to select a hostfor expressing a polypeptides in accordance with this aspect of thepresent invention.

More particularly, the present invention also includes recombinantconstructs, such as expression constructs, comprising one or more of thesequences described above. The constructs comprise a vector, such as aplasmid or viral vector, into which such a sequence of the invention hasbeen inserted. The sequence may be inserted in a forward or reverseorientation. In certain preferred embodiments in this regard, theconstruct further comprises regulatory sequences, including, forexample, a promoter, operably linked to the sequence. Large numbers ofsuitable vectors and promoters are known to those of skill in the art,and there are many commercially available vectors suitable for use inthe present invention.

The following vectors, which are commercially available, are provided byway of example. Among vectors preferred for use in bacteria are pQE70,pQE60 and pQE-9, available from Qiagen; pBS vectors, Phagescriptvectors, Bluescript vectors, pNH8A, pNH16a, pNH18A, pNH46A, availablefrom Stratagene; and ptrc99a, pKK223-3, pKK233-3, pDR540, pRIT5available from Pharmacia. Among preferred eukaryotic vectors are pWLNEO,pSV2CAT, pOG44, pXT1 and pSG available from Stratagene; and pSVK3, pBPV,pMSG and PSVL available from Pharmacia. These vectors are listed solelyby way of illustration of the many commercially available and well knownvectors that are available to those of skill in the art for use inaccordance with this aspect of the present invention. It will beappreciated that any other plasmid or vector suitable for, for example,introduction, maintenance, propagation or expression of a polynucleotideor polypeptide of the invention in a host may be used in this aspect ofthe invention.

Promoter regions can be selected from any desired gene using vectorsthat contain a reporter transcription unit lacking a promoter region,such as a chloramphenicol acetyl transferase ("CAT") transcription unit,downstream of restriction site or sites for introducing a candidatepromoter fragment; i.e., a fragment that may contain a promoter. As iswell known, introduction into the vector of a promoter-containingfragment at the restriction site upstream of the cat gene engendersproduction of CAT activity, which can be detected by standard CATassays. Vectors suitable to this end are well known and readilyavailable. Two such vectors are pKK232-8 and pCM7. Thus, promoters forexpression of polynucleotides of the present invention include not onlywell known and readily available promoters, but also promoters thatreadily may be obtained by the foregoing technique, using a reportergene.

Among known bacterial promoters suitable for expression ofpolynucleotides and polypeptides in accordance with the presentinvention are the E. coli lacI and lacZ promoters, the T3 and T7promoters, the gpt promoter, the lambda PR, PL promoters and the trppromoter.

Among known eukaryotic promoters suitable in this regard are the CMVimmediate early promoter, the HSV thymidine kinase promoter, the earlyand late SV40 promoters, the promoters of retroviral LTRs, such as thoseof the Rous sarcoma virus ("RSV"), and metallothionein promoters, suchas the mouse metallothionein-I promoter.

Selection of appropriate vectors and promoters for expression in a hostcell is a well known procedure and the requisite techniques forexpression vector construction, introduction of the vector into the hostand expression in the host are routine skills in the art.

The present invention also relates to host cells containing theabove-described constructs discussed above. The host cell can be ahigher eukaryotic cell, such as a mammalian cell, or a lower eukaryoticcell, such as a yeast cell, or the host cell can be a prokaryotic cell,such as a bacterial cell.

Introduction of the construct into the host cell can be effected bycalcium phosphate transfection, DEAE-dextran mediated transfection,cationic lipid-mediated transfection, electroporation, transduction,infection or other methods. Such methods are described in many standardlaboratory manuals, such as Davis et al. BASIC METHODS IN MOLECULARBIOLOGY, (1986).

Constructs in host cells can be used in a conventional manner to producethe gene product encoded by the recombinant sequence. Alternatively, thepolypeptides of the invention can be synthetically produced byconventional peptide synthesizers.

Mature proteins can be expressed in mammalian cells, yeast, bacteria, orother cells under the control of appropriate promoters. Cell-freetranslation systems can also be employed to produce such proteins usingRNAs derived from the DNA constructs of the present invention.Appropriate cloning and expression vectors for use with prokaryotic andeukaryotic hosts are described by Sambrook et al., MOLECULAR CLONING: ALABORATORY MANUAL, 2nd Ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, ColdSpring Harbor, N.Y. (1989).

Generally, recombinant expression vectors will include origins ofreplication, a promoter derived from a highly-expressed gene to directtranscription of a downstream structural sequence, and a selectablemarker to permit isolation of vector containing cells after exposure tothe vector. Among suitable promoters are those derived from the genesthat encode glycolytic enzymes such as 3-phosphoglycerate kinase("PGK"), a-factor, acid phosphatase, and heat shock proteins, amongothers. Selectable markers include the ampicillin resistance gene of E.coli and the trp1 gene of S. cerevisiae.

Transcription of the DNA encoding the polypeptides of the presentinvention by higher eukaryotes may be increased by inserting an enhancersequence into the vector. Enhancers are cis-acting elements of DNA,usually about from 10 to 300 bp that act to increase transcriptionalactivity of a promoter in a given host cell-type. Examples of enhancersinclude the SV40 enhancer, which is located on the late side of thereplication origin at bp 100 to 270, the cytomegalovirus early promoterenhancer, the polyoma enhancer on the late side of the replicationorigin, and adenovirus enhancers.

Polynucleotides of the invention, encoding the heterologous structuralsequence of a polypeptide of the invention generally will be insertedinto the vector using standard techniques so that it is operably linkedto the promoter for expression. The polynucleotide will be positioned sothat the transcription start site is located appropriately 5' to aribosome binding site. The ribosome binding site will be 5' to the AUGthat initiates translation of the polypeptide to be expressed.Generally, there will be no other open reading frames that begin with aninitiation codon, usually AUG, and lie between the ribosome binding siteand the initiating AUG. Also, generally, there will be a translationstop codon at the end of the polypeptide and there will be apolyadenylation signal and a transcription termination signalappropriately disposed at the 3' end of the transcribed region.

For secretion of the translated protein into the lumen of theendoplasmic reticulum, into the periplasmic space or into theextracellular environment, appropriate secretion signals may beincorporated into the expressed polypeptide. The signals may beendogenous to the polypeptide or they may be heterologous signals.

The polypeptide may be expressed in a modified form, such as a fusionprotein, and may include not only secretion signals but also additionalheterologous functional regions. Thus, for instance, a region ofadditional amino acids, particularly charged amino acids, may be addedto the N-terminus of the polypeptide to improve stability andpersistence in the host cell, during purification or during subsequenthandling and storage. Also, region also may be added to the polypeptideto facilitate purification. Such regions may be removed prior to finalpreparation of the polypeptide. The addition of peptide moieties topolypeptides to engender secretion or excretion, to improve stabilityand to facilitate purification, among others, are familiar and routinetechniques in the art.

Suitable prokaryotic hosts for propagation, maintenance or expression ofpolynucleotides and polypeptides in accordance with the inventioninclude Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis and Salmonella typhimurium.Various species of Pseudomonas, Streptomyces, and Staphylococcus aresuitable hosts in this regard. Moreover, many other hosts also known tothose of skill may be employed in this regard.

As a representative but non-limiting example, useful expression vectorsfor bacterial use can comprise a selectable marker and bacterial originof replication derived from commercially available plasmids comprisinggenetic elements of the well known cloning vector pBR322 (ATCC 37017).Such commercial vectors include, for example, pKK223-3 (Pharmacia FineChemicals, Uppsala, Sweden) and GEM1 (Promega Biotec, Madison, Wis.,USA). These pBR322 "backbone" sections are combined with an appropriatepromoter and the structural sequence to be expressed.

Following transformation of a suitable host strain and growth of thehost strain to an appropriate cell density, where the selected promoteris inducible it is induced by appropriate means (e.g., temperature shiftor exposure to chemical inducer) and cells are cultured for anadditional period.

Cells typically then are harvested by centrifugation, disrupted byphysical or chemical means, and the resulting crude extract retained forfurther purification.

Microbial cells employed in expression of proteins can be disrupted byany convenient method, including freeze-thaw cycling, sonication,mechanical disruption, or use of cell lysing agents, such methods arewell know to those skilled in the art.

Various mammalian cell culture systems can be employed for expression,as well. Examples of mammalian expression systems include the COS-7lines of monkey kidney fibroblast, described in Gluzman et al., Cell 23:175 (1981). Other cell lines capable of expressing a compatible vectorinclude for example, the C127, 3T3, CHO, HeLa, human kidney 293 and BHKcell lines.

Mammalian expression vectors will comprise an origin of replication, asuitable promoter and enhancer, and also any necessary ribosome bindingsites, polyadenylation sites, splice donor and acceptor sites,transcriptional termination sequences, and 5' flanking non-transcribedsequences that are necessary for expression. In certain preferredembodiments in this regard DNA sequences derived from the SV40 splicesites, and the SV40 polyadenylation sites are used for requirednon-transcribed genetic elements of these types.

The HMarcoSR polypeptide can be recovered and purified from recombinantcell cultures by well-known methods including ammonium sulfate orethanol precipitation, acid extraction, anion or cation exchangechromatography, phosphocellulose chromatography, hydrophobic interactionchromatography, affinity chromatography, hydroxylapatite chromatographyand lectin chromatography. Most preferably, high performance liquidchromatography ("HPLC") is employed for purification. Well knowntechniques for refolding protein may be employed to regenerate activeconformation when the polypeptide is denatured during isolation and orpurification.

Polypeptides of the present invention include naturally purifiedproducts, products of chemical synthetic procedures, and productsproduced by recombinant techniques from a prokaryotic or eukaryotichost, including, for example, bacterial, yeast, higher plant, insect andmammalian cells. Depending upon the host employed in a recombinantproduction procedure, the polypeptides of the present invention may beglycosylated or may be non-glycosylated. In addition, polypeptides ofthe invention may also include an initial modified methionine residue,in some cases as a result of host-mediated processes.

HMarcoSR polynucleotides and polypeptides may be used in accordance withthe present invention for a variety of applications, particularly thosethat make use of the chemical and biological properties of HMarcoSR.Additional applications relate to diagnosis and to treatment ofdisorders of cells, tissues and organisms. These aspects of theinvention are illustrated further by the following discussion.

HMarcoSR polypeptides and polynucleotides may be used in accordance withthe present invention for a variety of applications, particularly thosethat make use of the chemical and biological properties of the scavengerreceptors. Among these are applications in (1) screening for receptorantagonists/agonists; (2) providing antibodies against suchpolypeptides; (3) providing process for identifying and deliveringagonists/antagonists for therapeutic purposes, e.g. to treat or diagnosevarious cardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis,hypertension, myocardial and cerebral infarction, angina, organ failure,stroke, and gangrene, loss of function in the extremities and variousmacrophage related host defense disorders; other diseases which can bediagnosed or treated are septic₋₋ shock, pancreatitis, mutiple organfailure, endotoxemia and infections caused by gram negative and grampositive bacteria; (4) isolating receptor subtypes; and (5) isolatingbiologically active and diagnostically or therapeutically usefulfragments, analogs and derivatives thereof. Additional applicationsrelate to diagnosis and to treatment of disorders of cells, tissues andorganisms. These aspects of the invention are further illustratedhereinbelow.

Polynucleotide assays

This invention is also related to the use of the HMarcoSRpolynucleotides to detect complementary polynucleotides such as, forexample, as a diagnostic reagent. Detection of a mutated form ofHMarcoSR associated with a dysfunction will provide a diagnostic toolthat can add or define a diagnosis of a disease or susceptibility to adisease which results from under-expression over-expression or alteredexpression of HMarcoSR. Individuals carrying mutations in the HMarcoSRgene may be detected at the DNA level by a variety of techniques.Nucleic acids for diagnosis may be obtained from a patient's cells, suchas from blood, urine, saliva, tissue biopsy and autopsy material. Thegenomic DNA may be used directly for detection or may be amplifiedenzymatically by using PCR prior to analysis. PCR (Saiki et al., Nature,324: 163-166 (1986)). RNA or cDNA may also be used in the same ways. Asan example, PCR primers complementary to the nucleic acid encodingHMarcoSR can be used to identify and analyze HMarcoSR expression andmutations. For example, deletions and insertions can be detected by achange in size of the amplified product in comparison to the normalgenotype. Point mutations can be identified by hybridizing amplified DNAto radiolabeled HMarcoSR RNA or alternatively, radiolabeled HMarcoSRantisense DNA sequences. Perfectly matched sequences can bedistinguished from mismatched duplexes by RNase A digestion or bydifferences in melting temperatures.

Sequence differences between a reference gene and genes having mutationsalso may be revealed by direct DNA sequencing. In addition, cloned DNAsegments may be employed as probes to detect specific DNA segments. Thesensitivity of such methods can be greatly enhanced by appropriate useof PCR or another amplification method. For example, a sequencing primeris used with double-stranded PCR product or a single-stranded templatemolecule generated by a modified PCR. The sequence determination isperformed by conventional procedures with radiolabeled nucleotide or byautomatic sequencing procedures with fluorescent-tags.

Genetic testing based on DNA sequence differences may be achieved bydetection of alteration in electrophoretic mobility of DNA fragments ingels, with or without denaturing agents. Small sequence deletions andinsertions can be visualized by high resolution gel electrophoresis. DNAfragments of different sequences may be distinguished on denaturingformamide gradient gels in which the mobilities of different DNAfragments are retarded in the gel at different positions according totheir specific melting or partial melting temperatures (see, e.g., Myerset al., Science, 230: 1242 (1985)).

Sequence changes at specific locations also may be revealed by nucleaseprotection assays, such as RNase and S1 protection or the chemicalcleavage method (e.g., Cotton et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 85:4397-4401 (1985)).

Thus, the detection of a specific DNA sequence may be achieved bymethods such as hybridization, RNase protection, chemical cleavage,direct DNA sequencing or the use of restriction enzymes, (e.g.,restriction fragment length polymorphisms ("RFLP") and Southern blottingof genomic DNA.

In addition to more conventional gel-electrophoresis and DNA sequencing,mutations also can be detected by in situ analysis.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, there is provideda process for determining susceptibility to various cardiovasculardiseases, including atherosclerosis, hypertension, myocardial andcerebral infarction, angina, organ failure, stroke, and gangrene, lossof function in the extremities and macrophage related host defensedisorders. Other diseseas for which susceptibility may be determinedare₋₋ septic shock, pancreatitis, mutiple organ failure, endotoxemia andinfections caused by gram negative and gram positive bacteria. Thus, amutation in HMarcoSR indicates a susceptibility to the aforementioneddisorders and diseases, and the nucleic acid sequences described abovemay be employed in an assay for ascertaining such susceptibility. Thus,for example, the assay may be employed to determine a mutation in aHMarcoSR protein as herein described, such as a deletion, truncation,insertion, frame shift, etc., with such mutation being indicative of asusceptibility to the aforementioned disorders and diseases.

A mutation may be ascertained for example, by a DNA sequencing assay.Tissue samples, including but not limited to blood samples are obtainedfrom a human patient. The samples are processed by methods known in theart to capture the RNA. First strand cDNA is synthesized from the RNAsamples by adding an oligonucleotide primer consisting of polythymidineresidues which hybridize to the polyadenosine stretch present on themRNA's. Reverse transcriptase and deoxynucleotides are added to allowsynthesis of the first strand cDNA. Primer sequences are synthesizedbased on the DNA sequence of the DNA repair protein of the invention.The primer sequence is generally comprised of at least 15 consecutivebases, and may contain at least 30 or even 50 consecutive bases.

Individuals carrying mutations in the gene of the present invention mayalso be detected at the DNA level by a variety of techniques. Nucleicacids for diagnosis may be obtained from a patient's cells, includingbut not limited to blood, urine, saliva, tissue biopsy and autopsymaterial. The genomic DNA may be used directly for detection or may beamplified enzymatically by using PCR (Saiki et al., Nature, 324:163-166(1986)) prior to analysis. RT-PCR can also be used to detect mutations.It is particularly preferred to used RT-PCR in conjunction withautomated detection systems, such as, for example, GeneScan. RNA or cDNAmay also be used for the same purpose, PCR or RT-PCR. As an example, PCRprimers complementary to the nucleic acid encoding HMarcoSR can be usedto identify and analyze mutations. For example, deletions and insertionscan be detected by a change in size of the amplified product incomparison to the normal genotype. Point mutations can be identified byhybridizing amplified DNA to radiolabeled RNA or alternatively,radiolabeled antisense DNA sequences. Perfectly matched sequences can bedistinguished from mismatched duplexes by RNase A digestion or bydifferences in melting temperatures.

The primers may be used for amplifying HMarcoSR cDNA isolated from asample derived from a patient. The invention also provides the primers 1with 1, 2, 3 or 4 nucleotides removed from the 5' and/or the 3' end. Theprimers may be used to amplify the gene isolated from the patient suchthat the gene may then be subject to various techniques for elucidationof the DNA sequence. In this way, mutations in the DNA sequence may bediagnosed. The primers used here are obviously to the skilled in theart.

Sequence differences between the reference gene and genes havingmutations may be revealed by the direct DNA sequencing method. Inaddition, cloned DNA segments may be employed as probes to detectspecific DNA segments. The sensitivity of this method is greatlyenhanced when combined with PCR. For example, a sequencing primer isused with double-stranded PCR product or a single-stranded templatemolecule generated by a modified PCR. The sequence determination isperformed by conventional procedures with radiolabeled nucleotide or byautomatic sequencing procedures with fluorescent-tags.

Genetic testing based on DNA sequence differences may be achieved bydetection of alteration in electrophoretic mobility of DNA fragments ingels with or without denaturing agents. Small sequence deletions andinsertions can be visualized by high resolution gel electrophoresis. DNAfragments of different sequences may be distinguished on denaturingformamide gradient gels in which the mobilities of different DNAfragments are retarded in the gel at different positions according totheir specific melting or partial melting temperatures (see, e.g., Myerset al., Science, 230:1242 (1985)).

Sequence changes at specific locations may also be revealed by nucleaseprotection assays, such as RNase and S1 protection or the chemicalcleavage method (e.g., Cotton et al., PNAS, USA, 85:4397-4401 (1985)).

Thus, the detection of a specific DNA sequence and/or quantitation ofthe level of the sequence may be achieved by methods such ashybridization, RNase protection, chemical cleavage, direct DNAsequencing or the use of restriction enzymes, (e.g., RestrictionFragment length Polymorphisms (RFLP)) and Southern blotting of genomicDNA. The invention provides a process for diagnosing variouscardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis, hypertension,myocardial and cerebral infarction, angina, organ failure, stroke, andgangrene, loss of function in the extremities; and macrophage and otherimmune cells related host defense, septic shock, pancreatities, mutipleorgan failure, endotoxemia and infections caused by gram negative andgram positive bacteria, comprising determining from a sample derivedfrom a patient a decreased level of expression of polynucleotide havingthe sequence of SEQ ID NO: 5. Decreased expression of polynucleotide canbe measured using any on of the methods well known in the art for thequantation of polynucleotides, such as, for example, PCR, RT-PCR, RNaseprotection, Northern blotting and other hybridization methods.

In addition to more conventional gel-electrophoresis and DNA sequencing,mutations can also be detected by in situ analysis.

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) of a cDNA clone to a metaphasechromosomal spread can be used to provide a precise chromosomallocation.

As an example of how this is performed, HMarcoSR DNA is digested andpurified with QIAEX II DNA purification kit (QIAGEN, Inc., Chatsworth,Calif.) and ligated to Super Cos1 cosmid vector (STRATAGENE, La Jolla,Calif.). DNA is purified using Qiagen Plasmid Purification Kit (QIAGENInc., Chatsworth, Calif.) and 1 mg is labeled by nick translation in thepresence of Biotin-dATP using BioNick Labeling Kit (GibcoBRL, LifeTechnologies Inc., Gaithersburg, Md.). Biotinilation is detected withGENE-TECT Detection System (CLONTECH Laboratories, Inc. Palo Alto,Calif.). In situ Hybridization is performed on slides using ONCOR LightHybridization Kit (ONCOR, Gaithersberg, Md.) to detect single copysequences on metaphase chromosomes. Peripheral blood of normal donors iscultured for three days in RPMI 1640 supplemented with 20% FCS, 3% PHAand penicillin/streptomycin, synchronized with 10⁻⁷ M methotrexate for17 hours and ished twice with unsupplemented RPMI. Cells are incubatedwith 10⁻³ M thymidine for 7 hours. The cells are arrested in metaphaseafter 20 minutes incubation with colcemid (0.5 mg/ml) followed byhypotonic lysis in 75 mM KCl for 15 minutes at 37° C. Cell pellets arethen spun out and fixed in Carnoy's fixative (3:1 methanol/acetic acid).

Metaphase spreads are prepared by adding a drop of the suspension ontoslides and aid dried. Hybridization is performed by adding 100 ng ofprobe suspended in 10 ml of hybridization mix (50% formamide, 2×SSC, 1%dextran sulfate) with blocking human placental DNA 1 mg/ml). Probemixture is denatured for 10 minutes in 70° C. water bath and incubatedfor 1 hour at 37° C., before placing on a prewarmed (37° C.) slide,which is previously denatered in 70% formamide/2×SSC at 70° C., anddehydrated in ethanol series, chilled to 4° C.

Slides are incubated for 16 hours at 37° C. in a humidified chamber.Slides are ished in 50% formamide/2×SSC for 10 minutes at 41° C. and2×SSC for 7 minutes at 37° C. Hybridization probe is detected byincubation of the slides with FITC-Avidin (ONCOR, Gaithersberg, Md.),according to the manufacturer protocol. Chromosomes are counterstainedwith propridium iodine suspended in mounting medium. Slides arevisualized using a Leitz ORTHOPLAN 2-epifluorescence microscope and fivecomputer images are taken using Imagenetics Computer and MacIntoshprinter.

Once a sequence has been mapped to a precise chromosomal location, thephysical position of the sequence on the chromosome can be correlatedwith genetic map data. Such data are found, for example, in V. McKusick,Mendelian Inheritance in Man, which is publicly available on line viacomputer. The relationship between genes and diseases that have beenmapped to the same chromosomal region are then identified throughlinkage analysis (Co-Inheritance of Physically Adjacent Genes).

Unless otherwise stated, transformation is performed as described in themethod of Graham, F. and Van der Eb, A., Virology, 52:456-457 (1973).

Chromosome assays

The sequences of the present invention are also valuable for chromosomeidentification. The sequence is specifically targeted to and canhybridize with a particular location on an individual human chromosome.Moreover, there is a current need for identifying particular sites onthe chromosome. Few chromosome marking reagents based on actual sequencedata (repeat polymorphisms) are presently available for markingchromosomal location. The mapping of DNAs to chromosomes according tothe present invention is an important first step in correlating thosesequences with genes associated with disease.

In certain preferred embodiments in this regard, the cDNA hereindisclosed is used to clone genomic DNA of a HMarcoSR gene. This can beaccomplished using a variety of well known techniques and libraries,which generally are available commercially. The genomic DNA the is usedfor in situ chromosome mapping using well known techniques for thispurpose. Typically, in accordance with routine procedures for chromosomemapping, some trial and error may be necessary to identify a genomicprobe that gives a good in situ hybridization signal.

In some cases, in addition, sequences can be mapped to chromosomes bypreparing PCR primers (preferably 15-25 bp) from the cDNA. Computeranalysis of the 3' untranslated region of the gene is used to rapidlyselect primers that do not span more than one exon in the genomic DNA,thus complicating the amplification process. These primers are then usedfor PCR screening of somatic cell hybrids containing individual humanchromosomes. Only those hybrids containing the human gene correspondingto the primer will yield an amplified fragment.

PCR mapping of somatic cell hybrids is a rapid procedure for assigning aparticular DNA to a particular chromosome. Using the present inventionwith the same oligonucleotide primers, sublocalization can be achievedwith panels of fragments from specific chromosomes or pools of largegenomic clones in an analogous manner. Other mapping strategies that cansimilarly be used to map to its chromosome include in situhybridization, prescreening with labeled flow-sorted chromosomes andpreselection by hybridization to construct chromosome specific-cDNAlibraries.

Fluorescence in situ hybridization ("FISH") of a cDNA clone to ametaphase chromosomal spread can be used to provide a precisechromosomal location in one step. This technique can be used with cDNAas short as 50 or 60. For a review of this technique, see Verna et al.,HUMAN CHROMOSOMES: A MANUAL OF BASIC TECHNIQUES, Pergamon Press, NewYork (1988).

Once a sequence has been mapped to a precise chromosomal location, thephysical position of the sequence on the chromosome can be correlatedwith genetic map data. Such data are found, for example, in V. McKusick,MENDELIAN INHERITANCE IN MAN, available on line through Johns HopkinsUniversity, Welch Medical Library. The relationship between genes anddiseases that have been mapped to the same chromosomal region are thenidentified through linkage analysis (coinheritance of physicallyadjacent genes).

Next, it is necessary to determine the differences in the cDNA orgenomic sequence between affected and unaffected individuals. If amutation is observed in some or all of the affected individuals but notin any normal individuals, then the mutation is likely to be thecausative agent of the disease.

With current resolution of physical mapping and genetic mappingtechniques, a cDNA precisely localized to a chromosomal regionassociated with the disease could be one of between 50 and 500 potentialcausative genes. (This assumes 1 megabase mapping resolution and onegene per 20 kb).

Polypeptide assays

The present invention also relates to a diagnostic assays such asquantitative and diagnostic assays for detecting levels of HMarcoSRprotein in cells and tissues, including determination of normal andabnormal levels. Thus, for instance, a diagnostic assay in accordancewith the invention for detecting over-expression of HMarcoSR proteincompared to normal control tissue samples may be used to detect thepresence of a tumor, for example. Assay techniques that can be used todetermine levels of a protein, such as an HMarcoSR protein of thepresent invention, in a sample derived from a host are well-known tothose of skill in the art. Such assay methods include radioimmunoassays,competitive-binding assays, Western Blot analysis and ELISA assays.Among these ELISAs frequently are preferred. An ELISA assay initiallycomprises preparing an antibody specific to HMarcoSR, preferably amonoclonal antibody. In addition a reporter antibody generally isprepared which binds to the monoclonal antibody. The reporter antibodyis attached a detectable reagent such as radioactive, fluorescent orenzymatic reagent, in this example horseradish peroxidase enzyme.

To carry out an ELISA a sample is removed from a host and incubated on asolid support, e.g. a polystyrene dish, that binds the proteins in thesample. Any free protein binding sites on the dish are then covered byincubating with a non-specific protein such as bovine serum albumin.Next, the monoclonal antibody is incubated in the dish during which timethe monoclonal antibodies attach to any HMarcoSR proteins attached tothe polystyrene dish. Unbound monoclonal antibody is ished out withbuffer. The reporter antibody linked to horseradish peroxidase is placedin the dish resulting in binding of the reporter antibody to anymonoclonal antibody bound to HMarcoSR. Unattached reporter antibody isthen ished out. Reagents for peroxidase activity, including acolorimetric substrate are then added to the dish. Immobilizedperoxidase, linked to HMarcoSR through the primary and secondaryantibodies, produces a colored reaction product. The amount of colordeveloped in a given time period indicates the amount of HMarcoSRprotein present in the sample. Quantitative results typically areobtained by reference to a standard curve.

A competition assay may be employed wherein antibodies specific toHMarcoSR attached to a solid support and labeled HMarcoSR and a samplederived from the host are passed over the solid support and the amountof label detected attached to the solid support can be correlated to aquantity of HMarcoSR in the sample.

Antibodies

The polypeptides, their fragments or other derivatives, or analogsthereof, or cells expressing them can be used as an immunogen to produceantibodies thereto. These antibodies can be, for example, polyclonal ormonoclonal antibodies. The present invention also includes chimeric,single chain, and humanized antibodies, as well as Fab fragments, or theproduct of an Fab expression library. Various procedures known in theart may be used for the production of such antibodies and fragments.

Antibodies generated against the polypeptides corresponding to asequence of the present invention can be obtained by direct injection ofthe polypeptides into an animal or by administering the polypeptides toan animal, preferably a nonhuman. The antibody so obtained will thenbind the polypeptides itself. In this manner, even a sequence encodingonly a fragment of the polypeptides can be used to generate antibodiesbinding the whole native polypeptides. Such antibodies can then be usedto isolate the polypeptide from tissue expressing that polypeptide.

For preparation of monoclonal antibodies, any technique which providesantibodies produced by continuous cell line cultures can be used.Examples include the hybridoma technique (Kohler, G. and Milstein, C.,Nature 256: 495-497 (1975), the trioma technique, the human B-cellhybridoma technique (Kozbor et al., Immunology Today 4: 72 (1983) andthe EBV-hybridoma technique to produce human monoclonal antibodies (Coleet al., pg. 77-96 in MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES AND CANCER THERAPY, Alan R.Liss, Inc. (1985).

Techniques described for the production of single chain antibodies (U.S.Pat. No. 4,946,778) can be adapted to produce single chain antibodies toimmunogenic polypeptide products of this invention. Also, transgenicmice, or other organisms such as other mammals, may be used to expresshumanized antibodies to immunogenic polypeptide products of thisinvention.

The above-described antibodies may be employed to isolate or to identifyclones expressing the polypeptide or purify the polypeptide of thepresent invention by attachment of the antibody to a solid support forisolation and/or purification by affinity chromatography.

Thus, among others, antibodies against HMarcoSR may be employed toinhibit various cardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis,hypertension, myocardial and cerebral infarction, angina, organ failure,stroke, and gangrene, loss of function in the extremities and macrophageand other immune cell related host defense disorders. Other diseaseswhich can be inhibited are septic shock, pancreatitis, mutiple organfailure, endotoxemia and infections caused by gram negative and grampositive bacteria

HMarcoSR may also be employed to treat various cardiovascular diseases,including atherosclerosis, hypertension, myocardial and cerebralinfarction, angina, organ failure, stroke, and gangrene, loss offunction in the extremities and macrophage related host defensedisorders. Other diseases which can be treated with HMarcoSR are septicshock, pancreatitis, mutiple organ failure, endotoxemia and infectionscaused by gram negative and gram positive bacteria.

HMarcoSR binding molecules and assays

This invention also provides a method for identification of molecules,such as receptor molecules, that bind HMarcoSR. Genes encoding proteinsthat bind HMarcoSR, such as receptor proteins, can be identified bynumerous methods known to those of skill in the art, for example, ligandpanning and FACS sorting. Such methods are described in many laboratorymanuals such as, for instance, Coligan et al., Current Protocols inImmunology 1(2): Chapter 5 (1991).

For instance, expression cloning may be employed for this purpose. Tothis end polyadenylated RNA is prepared from a cell responsive toHMarcoSR, a cDNA library is created from this RNA, the library isdivided into pools and the pools are transfected individually into cellsthat are not responsive to HMarcoSR. The transfected cells then areexposed to labeled HMarcoSR. (HMarcoSR can be labeled by a variety ofwell-known techniques including standard methods of radio-iodination orinclusion of a recognition site for a site-specific protein kinase.)Following exposure, the cells are fixed and binding of HMarcoSR isdetermined. These procedures conveniently are carried out on glassslides.

Pools are identified of cDNA that produced HMarcoSR-binding cells.Sub-pools are prepared from these positives, transfected into host cellsand screened as described above. Using an iterative sub-pooling andre-screening process, one or more single clones that encode the putativebinding molecule, such as a receptor molecule, can be isolated.

Alternatively a labeled ligand can be photoaffinity linked to a cellextract, such as a membrane or a membrane extract, prepared from cellsthat express a molecule that it binds, such as a receptor molecule.Cross-linked material is resolved by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis("PAGE") and exposed to X-ray film. The labeled complex containing theligand-receptor can be excised, resolved into peptide fragments, andsubjected to protein microsequencing. The amino acid sequence obtainedfrom microsequencing can be used to design unique or degenerateoligonucleotide probes to screen cDNA libraries to identify genesencoding the putative receptor molecule.

Polypeptides of the invention also can be used to assess HMarcoSRbinding capacity of HMarcoSR binding molecules, such as receptormolecules, in cells or in cell-free preparations.

The HMarcoSR of the present invention may be employed in a process forscreening for compounds which activate (agonists) or inhibit activation(antagonists) of the receptor polypeptide of the present invention.

In general, such screening procedures involve providing appropriatecells which express the receptor polypeptide of the present invention onthe surface thereof. Such cells include cells from mammals, yeast,drosophila or E. Coli. In particular, a polynucleotide encoding thereceptor of the present invention is employed to transfect cells tothereby express the HMarcoSR. The expressed receptor is then contactedwith a test compound to observe binding, stimulation or inhibition of afunctional response.

One such screening procedure involves the use of melanophores which aretransfected to express the HMarcoSR of the present invention. Such ascreening technique is described in PCT WO 92/01810 published Feb. 6,1992.

Thus, for example, such assay may be employed for screening for acompound which inhibits activation of the receptor polypeptide of thepresent invention by contacting the melanophore cells which encode thereceptor with both the receptor ligand and a compound to be screened.Inhibition of the signal generated by the ligand indicates that acompound is a potential antagonist for the receptor, i.e., inhibitsactivation of the receptor.

The screen may be employed for determining a compound which activatesthe receptor by contacting such cells with compounds to be screened anddetermining whether such compound generates a signal, i.e., activatesthe receptor.

Other screening techniques include the use of cells which express theHMarcoSR (for example, transfected CHO cells) in a system which measuresextracellular pH changes caused by receptor activation, for example, asdescribed in Science, volume 246, pages 181-296 (October 1989). Forexample, compounds may be contacted with a cell which expresses thereceptor polypeptide of the present invention and a second messengerresponse, e.g. signal transduction or pH changes, may be measured todetermine whether the potential compound activates or inhibits thereceptor.

Another such screening technique involves introducing RNA encoding theHMarcoSR into Xenopus oocytes to transiently express the receptor. Thereceptor oocytes may then be contacted with the receptor ligand and acompound to be screened, followed by detection of inhibition oractivation of calcium, proton, etc. signal as the case may be forscreening for compounds which are thought to inhibit activation of thereceptor.

Another screening technique involves expressing the HMarcoSR in whichthe receptor is linked to a phospholipase C or D or other proteins asthe case may be. As representative examples of such cells, there may bementioned endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, embryonic kidneycells, etc. The screening may be accomplished as hereinabove describedby detecting activation of the receptor or inhibition of activation ofthe receptor from a second signal, such as for phospholipase or otheractivated/expressed proteins.

Another method involves screening for compounds which inhibit activationof the receptor polypeptide of the present invention antagonists bydetermining inhibition of binding of labeled ligand to cells which havethe receptor on the surface thereof. Such a method involves transfectinga eukaryotic cell with DNA encoding the HMarcoSR such that the cellexpresses the receptor on its surface and contacting the cell with acompound in the presence of a labeled form of a known ligand. The ligandcan be labeled, e.g., by radioactivity. The amount of labeled ligandbound to the receptors is measured, e.g., by measuring radioactivity ofthe receptors. If the compound binds to the receptor as determined by areduction of labeled ligand which binds to the receptors, the binding oflabeled ligand to the receptor is inhibited.

HMarcoSR are found in the mammalian host and are responsible for manybiological functions, including many pathologies. Accordingly, it isdesirous to find compounds and drugs which stimulate the HMarcoSR on theone hand and which can inhibit the function of a HMarcoSR on the otherhand.

For example, compounds which activate the HMarcoSR may be employed fortherapeutic purposes, such as the treatment of various cardiovasculardiseases, including atherosclerosis, hypertension, myocardial andcerebral infarction, angina, organ failure, stroke, and gangrene, lossof function in the extremities and macrophage related host defensedisorders. Other diseases which may be treated are septic shock,pancreatitis, mutiple organ failure, endotoxemia and infections causedby gram negative and gram positive bacteria In general, compounds whichinhibit activation of the HMarcoSR may be employed for a variety oftherapeutic purposes, for example, for the treatment of variouscardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis, hypertension,myocardial and cerebral infarction, angina, organ failure, stroke, andgangrene, loss of function in the extremities and macrophage relatedhost defense disorders. Other disease which may be treated by compoundsinhibiting HMarcoSR are septic shock, pancreatitis, mutiple organfailure, endotoxemia and infections caused by gram negative and grampositive bacteria among others. Compounds which inhibit HMarcoSR havealso been useful in reversing various cardiovascular diseases, includingatherosclerosis, hypertension, myocardial and cerebral infarction,angina, organ failure, stroke, and gangrene, loss of function in theextremities and macrophage related host defense disorders. Otherdiseases which may be reversed by compounds inhibiting HMarcoSR areseptic shock, pancreatitis, mutiple organ failure, endotoxemia andinfections caused by gram negative and gram positive bacteria

An antibody may antagonize a HMarcoSR of the present invention, or insome cases an oligopeptide, which bind to the HMarcoSR but does notelicit a second messenger response such that the activity of theHMarcoSR is prevented. Antibodies include anti-idiotypic antibodieswhich recognize unique determinants generally associated with theantigen-binding site of an antibody. Potential antagonist compounds alsoinclude proteins which are closely related to the ligand of theHMarcoSR, i.e. a fragment of the ligand, which have lost biologicalfunction and when binding to the HMarcoSR, elicit no response.

An antisense construct prepared through the use of antisense technology,may be used to control gene expression through triple-helix formation orantisense DNA or RNA, both of which methods are based on binding of apolynucleotide to DNA or RNA. For example, the 5' coding portion of thepolynucleotide sequence, which encodes for the mature polypeptides ofthe present invention, is used to design an antisense RNAoligonucleotide of from about 10 to 40 base pairs in length. A DNAoligonucleotide is designed to be complementary to a region of the geneinvolved in transcription (triple helix--see Lee et al., Nucl. AcidsRes., 6:3073 (1979); Cooney et al, Science, 241:456 (1988); and Dervanet al., Science, 251: 1360 (1991)), thereby preventing transcription andthe production of HMarcoSR. The antisense RNA oligonucleotide hybridizesto the mRNA in vivo and blocks translation of mRNA molecules intoHMarcoSR (antisense--Okano, J. Neurochem, 56:560 (1991);Oligodeoxynucleotides as Antisense Inhibitors of Gene Expression, CRCPress, Boca Raton, Fla. (1988)). The oligonucleotides described abovecan also be delivered to cells such that the antisense RNA or DNA may beexpressed in vivo to inhibit production of HMarcoSR.

A small molecule which binds to the HMarcoSR, making it inaccessible toligands such that normal biological activity is prevented, for examplesmall peptides or peptide-like molecules, may also be used to inhibitactivation of the receptor polypeptide of the present invention.

A soluble form of the HMarcoSR, e.g. a fragment of the receptors, may beused to inhibit activation of the receptor by binding to the ligand to apolypeptide of the present invention and preventing the ligand frominteracting with membrane bound HMarcoSR.

This invention additionally provides a method of treating an abnormalcondition related to an excess of HMarcoSR activity which comprisesadministering to a subject the inhibitor compounds as hereinabovedescribed along with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier in an amounteffective to inhibit activation by blocking binding of ligands to theHMarcoSR, or by inhibiting a second signal, and thereby alleviating theabnormal conditions.

The invention also provides a method of treating abnormal conditionsrelated to an under-expression of HMarcoSR activity which comprisesadministering to a subject a therapeutically effective amount of acompound which activates the receptor polypeptide of the presentinvention as described above in combination with a pharmaceuticallyacceptable carrier, to thereby alleviate the abnormal conditions.

The soluble form of the HMarcoSR, and compounds which activate orinhibit such receptor, may be employed in combination with a suitablepharmaceutical carrier. Such compositions comprise a therapeuticallyeffective amount of the polypeptide or compound, and a pharmaceuticallyacceptable carrier or excipient. Such a carrier includes but is notlimited to saline, buffered saline, dextrose, water, glycerol, ethanol,and combinations thereof. The formulation should suit the mode ofadministration.

Agonists and antagonists--assays and molecules

The invention also provides a method of screening compounds to identifythose which enhance or block the action of HMarcoSR on cells, such asits interaction with HMarcoSR-binding molecules such as receptormolecules. An agonist is a compound which increases the naturalbiological functions of HMarcoSR or which functions in a manner similarto HMarcoSR, while antagonists decrease or eliminate such functions.

For example, a cellular compartment, such as a membrane or a preparationthereof, such as a membrane-preparation, may be prepared from a cellthat expresses a molecule that binds HMarcoSR, such as a molecule of asignaling or regulatory pathway modulated by HMarcoSR. The preparationis incubated with labeled HMarcoSR in the absence or the presence of acandidate molecule which may be a HMarcoSR agonist or antagonist. Theability of the candidate molecule to bind the binding molecule isreflected in decreased binding of the labeled ligand. Molecules whichbind gratuitously, i.e., without inducing the effects of HMarcoSR onbinding the HMarcoSR binding molecule, are most likely to be goodantagonists. Molecules that bind well and elicit effects that are thesame as or closely related to HMarcoSR are agonists.

HMarcoSR-like effects of potential agonists and antagonists may bymeasured, for instance, by determining activity of a second messengersystem following interaction of the candidate molecule with a cell orappropriate cell preparation, and comparing the effect with that ofHMarcoSR or molecules that elicit the same effects as HMarcoSR. Secondmessenger systems that may be useful in this regard include but are notlimited to AMP guanylate cyclase, ion channel or phosphoinositidehydrolysis second messenger systems.

Another example of an assay for HMarcoSR antagonists is a competitiveassay that combines HMarcoSR and a potential antagonist withmembrane-bound HMarcoSR receptor molecules or recombinant HMarcoSRreceptor molecules under appropriate conditions for a competitiveinhibition assay. HMarcoSR can be labeled, such as by radioactivity,such that the number of HMarcoSR molecules bound to a receptor moleculecan be determined accurately to assess the effectiveness of thepotential antagonist.

Potential antagonists include small organic molecules, peptides,polypeptides and antibodies that bind to a polypeptide of the inventionand thereby inhibit or extinguish its activity. Potential antagonistsalso may be small organic molecules, a peptide, a polypeptide such as aclosely related protein or antibody that binds the same sites on abinding molecule, such as a receptor molecule, without inducingHMarcoSR-induced activities, thereby preventing the action of HMarcoSRby excluding HMarcoSR from binding.

Potential antagonists include a small molecule which binds to andoccupies the binding site of the polypeptide thereby preventing bindingto cellular binding molecules, such as receptor molecules, such thatnormal biological activity is prevented. Examples of small moleculesinclude but are not limited to small organic molecules, peptides orpeptide-like molecules.

Other potential antagonists include antisense molecules. Antisensetechnology can be used to control gene expression through antisense DNAor RNA or through triple-helix formation. Antisense techniques arediscussed, for example, in--Okano, J. Neurochem. 56: 560 (1991);OLIGODEOXYNUCLEOTIDES AS ANTISENSE INHIBITORS OF GENE EXPRESSION, CRCPress, Boca Raton, Fla. (1988). Triple helix formation is discussed in,for instance Lee et al., Nucleic Acids Research 6: 3073 (1979); Cooneyet al., Science 241: 456 (1988); and Dervan et al., Science 251: 1360(1991). The methods are based on binding of a polynucleotide to acomplementary DNA or RNA. For example, the 5' coding portion of apolynucleotide that encodes the mature polypeptide of the presentinvention may be used to design an antisense RNA oligonucleotide of fromabout 10 to 40 base pairs in length. A DNA oligonucleotide is designedto be complementary to a region of the gene involved in transcriptionthereby preventing transcription and the production of HMarcoSR. Theantisense RNA oligonucleotide hybridizes to the mRNA in vivo and blockstranslation of the mRNA molecule into HMarcoSR polypeptide. Theoligonucleotides described above can also be delivered to cells suchthat the antisense RNA or DNA may be expressed in vivo to inhibitproduction of HMarcoSR.

The agonists or antagonist may be employed in a composition with apharmaceutically acceptable carrier, e.g., as hereinafter described.

The antagonists or agonists may be employed for instance to inhibitvarious cardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis,hypertension, myocardial and cerebral infarction, angina, organ failure,stroke, and gangrene, loss of function in the extremities and macrophagerelated host defense disorders. Other diseases which may be inhibitedare septic shock, pancreatitis, mutiple organ failure, endotoxemia andinfections caused by gram negative and gram positive bacteria

Compositions

The invention also relates to compositions comprising the polynucleotideor the polypeptides discussed above or the agonists or antagonists.Thus, the polypeptides of the present invention may be employed incombination with a non-sterile or sterile carrier or carriers for usewith cells, tissues or organisms, such as a pharmaceutical carriersuitable for administration to a subject. Such compositions comprise,for instance, a media additive or a therapeutically effective amount ofa polypeptide of the invention and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrieror excipient. Such carriers may include, but are not limited to, saline,buffered saline, dextrose, water, glycerol, ethanol and combinationsthereof. The formulation should suit the mode of administration.

Kits

The invention further relates to pharmaceutical packs and kitscomprising one or more containers filled with one or more of theingredients of the aforementioned compositions of the invention.Associated with such container(s) can be a notice in the form prescribedby a governmental agency regulating the manufacture, use or sale ofpharmaceuticals or biological products, reflecting approval by theagency of the manufacture, use or sale of the product for humanadministration.

Administration

Polypeptides and other compounds of the present invention may beemployed alone or in conjunction with other compounds, such astherapeutic compounds.

The pharmaceutical compositions may be administered in any effective,convenient manner including, for instance, administration by topical,oral, anal, vaginal, intravenous, intraperitoneal, intramuscular,subcutaneous, intranasal or intradermal routes among others.

The pharmaceutical compositions generally are administered in an amounteffective for treatment or prophylaxis of a specific indication orindications. In general, the compositions are administered in an amountof at least about 10 μg/kg body weight. In most cases they will beadministered in an amount not in excess of about 8 mg/kg body weight perday. Preferably, in most cases, dose is from about 10 μg/kg to about 1mg/kg body weight, daily. It will be appreciated that optimum dosagewill be determined by standard methods for each treatment modality andindication, taking into account the indication, its severity, route ofadministration, complicating conditions and the like.

Gene therapy

The HMarcoSR polynucleotides, polypeptides, agonists and antagoniststhat are polypeptides may be employed in accordance with the presentinvention by expression of such polypeptides in vivo, in treatmentmodalities often referred to as "gene therapy."

Thus, for example, cells from a patient may be engineered with apolynucleotide, such as a DNA or RNA, encoding a polypeptide ex vivo,and the engineered cells then can be provided to a patient to be treatedwith the polypeptide. For example, cells may be engineered ex vivo bythe use of a retroviral plasmid vector containing RNA encoding apolypeptide of the present invention. Such methods are well-known in theart and their use in the present invention will be apparent from theteachings herein.

Similarly, cells may be engineered in vivo for expression of apolypeptide in vivo by procedures known in the art. For example, apolynucleotide of the invention may be engineered for expression in areplication defective retroviral vector, as discussed above. Theretroviral expression construct then may be isolated and introduced intoa packaging cell is transduced with a retroviral plasmid vectorcontaining RNA encoding a polypeptide of the present invention such thatthe packaging cell now produces infectious viral particles containingthe gene of interest. These producer cells may be administered to apatient for engineering cells in vivo and expression of the polypeptidein vivo. These and other methods for administering a polypeptide of thepresent invention by such method should be apparent to those skilled inthe art from the teachings of the present invention.

Retroviruses from which the retroviral plasmid vectors herein abovementioned may be derived include, but are not limited to, Moloney MurineLeukemia Virus, spleen necrosis virus, retroviruses such as Rous SarcomaVirus, Harvey Sarcoma Virus, avian leukosis virus, gibbon ape leukemiavirus, human immunodeficiency virus, adenovirus, MyeloproliferativeSarcoma Virus, and mammary tumor virus. In one embodiment, theretroviral plasmid vector is derived from Moloney Murine Leukemia Virus.

Such vectors well include one or more promoters for expressing thepolypeptide. Suitable promoters which may be employed include, but arenot limited to, the retroviral LTR; the SV40 promoter; and the humancytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter described in Miller et al., Biotechniques7: 900-990 (1989), or any other promoter (e.g., cellular promoters suchas eukaryotic cellular promoters including, but not limited to, thehistone, RNA polymerase III, and β-actin promoters). Other viralpromoters which may be employed include, but are not limited to,adenovirus promoters, thymidine kinase (TK) promoters, and B19parvovirus promoters. The selection of a suitable promoter will beapparent to those skilled in the art from the teachings containedherein.

The nucleic acid sequence encoding the polypeptide of the presentinvention will be placed under the control of a suitable promoter.Suitable promoters which may be employed include, but are not limitedto, adenoviral promoters, such as the adenoviral major late promoter; orheterologous promoters, such as the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter; therespiratory syncytial virus (RSV) promoter; inducible promoters, such asthe MMT promoter, the metallothionein promoter, heat shock promoters;the albumin promoter; the ApoAI promoter; human globin promoters; viralthymidine kinase promoters, such as the Herpes Simplex thymidine kinasepromoter; retroviral LTRs (including the modified retroviral LTRs hereinabove described); the β-actin promoter; and human growth hormonepromoters. The promoter also may be the native promoter which controlsthe gene encoding the polypeptide.

The retroviral plasmid vector is employed to transduce packaging celllines to form producer cell lines. Examples of packaging cells which maybe transfected include, but are not limited to, the PE501, PA317, Y-2,Y-AM, PA12, T19-14X, VT-19-17-H2, YCRE, YCRIP, GP+E-86, GP+envAm12, andDAN cell lines as described in Miller, A., Human Gene Therapy 1: 5-14(1990). The vector may be transduced into the packaging cells throughany means known in the art. Such means include, but are not limited to,electroporation, the use of liposomes, and CaP04 precipitation. In onealterative, the retroviral plasmid vector may be encapsulated into aliposome, or coupled to a lipid, and then administered to a host.

The producer cell line will generate infectious retroviral vectorparticles, which include the nucleic acid sequence(s) encoding thepolypeptides. Such retroviral vector particles then may be employed totransduce eukaryotic cells, either in vitro or in vivo. The transducedeukaryotic cells will express the nucleic acid sequence(s) encoding thepolypeptide. Eukaryotic cells which may be transduced include, but arenot limited to, embryonic stem cells, embryonic carcinoma cells, as wellas hematopoietic stem cells, hepatocytes, fibroblasts, myoblasts,keratinocytes, endothelial cells, and bronchial epithelial cells.

EXAMPLES

The present invention is further described by the following examples.The examples are provided solely to illustrate the invention byreference to specific embodiments. These exemplification's, whileillustrating certain specific aspects of the invention, do not portraythe limitations or circumscribe the scope of the disclosed invention.

Certain terms used herein are explained in the foregoing glossary.

All examples are carried out using standard techniques, which are wellknown and routine to those of skill in the art, except where otherwisedescribed in detail. Routine molecular biology techniques of thefollowing examples can be carried out as described in standardlaboratory manuals, such as Sambrook et al., MOLECULAR CLONING: ALABORATORY MANUAL, 2nd Ed.; Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, ColdSpring Harbor, N.Y. (1989), herein referred to as "Sambrook."

All parts or amounts set out in the following examples are by weight,unless otherwise specified.

Unless otherwise stated size separation of fragments in the examplesbelow is carried out using standard techniques of agarose andpolyacrylamide gel electrophoresis ("PAGE") in Sambrook and numerousother references such as, for instance, by Goeddel et al., Nucleic AcidsRes. 8: 4057 (1980).

Unless described otherwise, ligations are accomplished using standardbuffers, incubation temperatures and times, approximately equimolaramounts of the DNA fragments to be ligated and approximately 10 units ofT4 DNA ligase ("ligase") per 0.5 μg of DNA.

Example 1

Expression and purification of HMarcoSR of SEQ ID NO: 1 using bacteria

The DNA sequence encoding HMarcoSR in the deposited polynucleotide isamplified using PCR oligonucleotide primers specific to the amino acidcarboxyl terminal sequence of the HMarcoSR protein and to vectorsequences 3' to the gene. Additional nucleotides containing restrictionsites to facilitate cloning are added to the 5' and 3+ sequencesrespectively.

The 5' oligonucleotide primer had the sequence 5'CTGCAGGAATTCGGCACGAGCTCTTGAGT 3' (SEQ ID NO:3) containing the underlinedEcoRI restriction site, which is followed by 17 nucleotides of theHMarcoSR 5' coding sequence set out in SEQ ID NO: 1.

The 3' primer has the sequence 5' CCTCGGGAGCAGAGAAGTGAAAAGCTTTCC 3' (SEQID NO:4) containing the underlined engineered Hind III restriction siteembedded within 28 nucleotides complementary to the nucleotide sequenceof the 3'-noncoding region of HMarcoSR sequence set out in SEQ ID NO: 1,not including the stop codon.

The restrictions sites are convenient to restriction enzyme sites in thebacterial expression vectors pQE-9 which are used for bacterialexpression in these examples. (Qiagen, Inc. Chatsworth, Calif. pQE-9encodes ampicillin antibiotic resistance ("Ampr") and contains abacterial origin of replication ("ori"), an IPTG inducible promoter, aribosome binding site ("RBS"), a 6-His tag and restriction enzyme sites.

The amplified HMarcoSR DNA and the vector pQE-9 both are digested withEcoRI and HindIII and the digested DNAs then are ligated together.Insertion of the HMarcoSR DNA into the restricted vector placed theHMarcoSR coding region downstream of and operably linked to the vector'sIPTG-inducible promoter and in-frame with an initiating AUGappropriately positioned for translation of HMarcoSR.

The ligation mixture is transformed into competent E. coli cells usingstandard procedures. Such procedures are described in Sambrook et al.,MOLECULAR CLONING: A LABORATORY MANUAL, 2nd Ed.; Cold Spring HarborLaboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. (1989). E. coli strainM15/rep4, containing multiple copies of the plasmid pREP4, whichexpresses lac repressor and confers kanamycin resistance ("Kan^(r) "),is used in carrying out the illustrative example described here. Thisstrain, which is only one of many that are suitable for expressingHMarcoSR, is available commercially from Qiagen.

Transfonmants are identified by their ability to grow on LB plates inthe presence of ampicillin. Plasmid DNA is isolated from resistantcolonies and the identity of the cloned DNA is confirmed by restrictionanalysis.

Clones containing the desired constructs are grown overnight ("O/N") inliquid culture in LB media supplemented with both ampicillin (100 μg/ml)and kanamycin (25 μg/ml).

The O/N culture is used to inoculate a large culture, at a dilution ofapproximately 1:100 to 1:250. The cells are grown to an optical densityat 600 nm ("OD⁶⁰⁰ ") of between 0.4 and 0.6.Isopropyl-B-D-thiogalactopyranoside ("WIG") is then added to a finalconcentration of 1 mM to induce transcription from lac repressorsensitive promoters, by inactivating the laci repressor. Cellssubsequently are incubated further for 3 to 4 hours. Cells then areharvested by centrifugation and disrupted, by standard methods.Inclusion bodies are purified from the disrupted cells using routinecollection techniques, and protein is solubilized from the inclusionbodies into 8M urea. The 8M urea solution containing the solubilizedprotein is passed over a PD-10 column in 2X phosphate buffered saline("PBS"), thereby removing the urea, exchanging the buffer and refoldingthe protein. The protein is purified by a further step of chromatographyto remove endotoxin. Then, it is sterile filtered. The sterile filteredprotein preparation is stored in 2X PBS at a concentration of 95micrograms per mL.

Analysis of the preparation by standard methods of polyacrylamide gelelectrophoresis reveals HMarcoSR having the expected molecular weightof, approximately 59.3 kDa

Example 2

Cloning and expression of HMarcoSR SEQ ID NO: 1 in a baculovirusexpression system

The cDNA sequence encoding the full length HMarcoSR protein, in thedeposited clone is amplified using PCR oligonucleotide primerscorresponding to the 5' and 3' sequences of the gene:

The 5' primer has the sequence 5' CTGCAGGAATTCGGCACGAGCTCTTGACT 3' (SEQID NO:3) containing the underlined EcoRI restriction enzyme sitefollowed by 17 bases of the sequence of HMarcoSR of SEQ ID NO: 1.Inserted into an expression vector, as described below, the 5' end ofthe amplified fragment encoding HMarcoSR, provides an efficient signalpeptide. An efficient signal for initiation of translation in eukaryoticcells, as described by Kozak, M., J. Mol. Biol. 196: 947-950 (1987) isappropriately located in the vector portion of the construct.

The 3' primer has the sequence 5' CCTCGGGAGCAGAGAAGTGAAAAGCTTTCC 3' (SEQID NO:4) containing the underlined Hind III restriction site embeddedwithin 28 nucleotides complementary to the 3'-noncoding HMarcoSR regionset out in SEQ ID NO: 1, not including the stop codon.

The amplified fragment is isolated from a 1% agarose gel using acommercially available kit ("Geneclean," BIO 101 Inc., La Jolla,Calif.). The fragment then is digested with EcoRI and HindIII and againis purified on a 1% agarose gel. This fragment is designated herein F2.

The vector pRG1 is used to express the HMarcoSR protein in thebaculovirus expression system, using standard methods, such as thosedescribed in Summers et al, A MANUAL OF METHODS FOR BACULOVIRUS VECTORSAND INSECT CELL CULTURE PROCEDURES, Texas Agricultural ExperimentalStation Bulletin No. 1555 (1987). This expression vector contains thestrong polyhedrin promoter of the Autographa california nuclearpolyhedrosis virus (AcMNPV) followed by convenient restriction sites.The signal peptide of AcMNPV gp67, including the N-terminal methionine,is located just upstream of a BamH1 site. The polyadenylation site ofthe simian virus 40 ("SV40") is used for efficient polyadenylation. Foran easy selection of recombinant virus the betagalactosidase gene fromE.coli is inserted in the same orientation as the polyhedrin promoterand is followed by the polyadenylation signal of the polyhedrin gene.The polyhedrin sequences are flanked at both sides by viral sequencesfor cell-mediated homologous recombination with wild-type viral DNA togenerate viable virus that express the cloned polynucleotide.

Many other baculovirus vectors could be used in place of pRG1, such aspAc373, pVL941 and pAcIM1 provided, as those of skill in the art willreadily appreciate, that construction provides appropriately locatedsignals for transcription, translation, trafficking and the like, suchas an in-frame AUG and a signal peptide, as required. Such vectors aredescribed in Luckow et al., Virology 170: 31-39, among others.

The plasmid is digested with the restriction enzymes EcoRI and HindIIIand then is dephosphorylated using calf intestinal phosphatase, usingroutine procedures known in the art. The DNA is then isolated from a 1%agarose gel using a commercially available kit ("Geneclean" BIO 101Inc., La Jolla, Calif.). This vector DNA is designated herein "V2".

Fragment F2 and the dephosphorylated plasmid V2 are ligated togetherwith T4 DNA ligase. E.coli HB101 cells are transformed with ligation mixand spread on culture plates. Bacteria are identified that contain theplasmid with the HMarcoSR gene by digesting DNA from individual coloniesusing EcoRI and HindIII and then analyzing the digestion product by gelelectrophoresis. The sequence of the cloned fragment is confirmed by DNAsequencing. This plasmid is designated herein pBacHMarcoSR.

5 μg of the plasmid pBacHMarcoSR is co-transfected with 1.0 μg of acommercially available linearized baculovirus DNA ("BaculoGoldObaculovirus DNA", Pharmingen, San Diego, Calif.), using the lipofectionmethod described by Felgner et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84:7413-7417 (1987). 1 μg of BaculoGoldO virus DNA and 5 μg of the plasmidpBacHMarcoSR are mixed in a sterile well of a microtiter platecontaining 50 μl of serum free Grace's medium (Life Technologies Inc.,Gaithersburg, Md.). Afterwards 10 μl Lipofectin plus 90 μl Grace'smedium are added, mixed and incubated for 15 minutes at roomtemperature. Then the transfection mixture is added drop-wise to Sf9insect cells (ATCC CRL 1711) seeded in a 35 mm tissue culture plate with1 ml Grace's medium without serum. The plate is rocked back and forth tomix the newly added solution. The plate is then incubated for 5 hours at27° C. After 5 hours the transfection solution is removed from the plateand 1 ml of Grace's insect medium supplemented with 10% fetal calf serumis added. The plate is put back into an incubator and cultivation iscontinued at 27° C. for four days.

After four days the supernatant is collected and a plaque assay isperformed, as described by Summers and Smith, cited above. An agarosegel with "Blue Gal" (Life Technologies Inc., Gaithersburg) is used toallow easy identification and isolation of gal-expressing clones, whichproduce blue-stained plaques. (A detailed description of a "plaqueassay" of this type can also be found in the user's guide for insectcell culture and baculovirology distributed by Life Technologies Inc.,Gaithersburg, page 9-10).

Four days after serial dilution, the virus is added to the cells. Afterappropriate incubation, blue stained plaques are picked with the tip ofan Eppendorf pipette. The agar containing the recombinant viruses isthen resuspended in an Eppendorf tube containing 200 μl of Grace'smedium. The agar is removed by a brief centrifugation and thesupernatant containing the recombinant baculovirus is used to infect Sf9cells seeded in 35 mm dishes. Four days later the supernatants of theseculture dishes are harvested and then they are stored at 4° C. A clonecontaining properly inserted HMarcoSR is identified by DNA analysisincluding restriction mapping and sequencing. This is designated hereinas V-HMarcoSR.

Sf9 cells are grown in Grace's medium supplemented with 10%heat-inactivated FBS. The cells are infected with the recombinantbaculovirus V-HMarcoSR at a multiplicity of infection ("MOI") of about 2(about 1 to about 3). Six hours later the medium is removed and isreplaced with SF900 II medium minus methionine and cysteine (availablefrom Life Technologies Inc., Gaithersburg). 42 hours later, 5 μCi of35S-methionine and 5 μCi 35S cysteine (available from Amersham) areadded. The cells are further incubated for 16 hours and then they areharvested by centrifugation, lysed and the labeled proteins arevisualized by SDS-PAGE and autoradiography.

Example 3

Expression of HMarcoSR SEQ ID NO: 1 in COS cells

The expression plasmid, HMarcoSR HA, is made by cloning a cDNA encodingHMarcoSR into the expression vector pcDNAI/Amp (which can be obtainedfrom Invitrogen, Inc.).

The expression vector pcDNAI/amp contains: (1) an E.coli origin ofreplication effective for propagation in E. coli and other prokaryoticcell; (2) an ampicillin resistance gene for selection ofplasmid-containing prokaryotic cells; (3) an SV40 origin of replicationfor propagation in eukaryotic cells; (4) a CMV promoter, a polylinker,an SV40 intron, and a polyadenylation signal arranged so that a cDNAconveniently can be placed under expression control of the CMV promoterand operably linked to the SV40 intron and the polyadenylation signal bymeans of restriction sites in the polylinker.

A DNA fragment encoding the entire HMarcoSR precursor and a HA tag fusedin frame to its 3' end is cloned into the polylinker region of thevector so that recombinant protein expression is directed by the CMVpromoter. The HA tag corresponds to an epitope derived from theinfluenza hemagglutinin protein described by Wilson et al., Cell 37: 767(1984). The fusion of the HA tag to the target protein allows easydetection of the recombinant protein with an antibody that recognizesthe HA epitope.

The plasmid construction strategy is as follows.

The HMarcoSR cDNA of the deposit clone is amplified using primers thatcontained convenient restriction sites, much as described aboveregarding the construction of expression vectors for expression ofHMarcoSR in E coli and S. fugiperda.

To facilitate detection, purification and characterization of theexpressed HMarcoSR, one of the primers contains a hemagglutinin tag ("HAtag") as described above.

Suitable primers include that following, which are used in this example.

The 5' primer, containing the underlined EcoRI 5' site codon, sequence5' CTGCAGGAATTCGGCACGAGCTCTTGAGT 3' (SEQ ID NO:3).

The 3' primer, contaning the underlined HindIII site and 28 bp of 3'noncoding sequence, 5' CCTCGGGAGCAGAGAAGTGAAAAGCTTTCC 3' (SEQ ID NO:4).

The PCR amplified DNA fragment and the vector, pcDNAI/Amp, are digestedwith and then ligated. The ligation mixture is transformed into E colistrain SURE (available from Stratagene Cloning Systems, 11099 NorthTorrey Pines Road, La Jolla, Calif. 92037) the transformed culture isplated on ampicillin media plates which then are incubated to allowgrowth of ampicillin resistant colonies. Plasmid DNA is isolated fromresistant colonies and examined by restriction analysis and gel sizingfor the presence of the HMarcoSR-encoding fragment.

For expression of recombinant HMarcoSR, COS cells are transfected withan expression vector, as described above, using DEAE-DEXTRAN, asdescribed, for instance, in Sambrook et al., MOLECULAR CLONING: ALABORATORY MANUAL, Cold Spring Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, NewYork (1989).

Cells are incubated under conditions for expression of HMarcoSR by thevector.

Expression of the HMarcoSR HA fusion protein is detected byradiolabelling and immunoprecipitation, using methods described in, forexample Harlow et al., ANTIBODIES: A LABORATORY MANUAL, 2nd Ed.; ColdSpring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, New York (1988). Tothis end, two days after transfection, the cells are labeled byincubation in media containing ³⁵ S-cysteine for 8 hours. The cells andthe media are collected, and the cells are washed and the lysed withdetergent-containing RIPA buffer: 150 mM NaCl, 0.1% SDS, 1% NP-40, 0.5%DOC, 50 mM TRIS, pH 7.5, as described by Wilson et al. cited above.Proteins are precipitated from the cell lysate and from the culturemedia using an HA-specific monoclonal antibody. The precipitatedproteins then are analyzed by SDS-PAGE gels and autoradiography. Anexpression product of the expected size is seen in the cell lysate,which is not seen in negative controls.

Similarily the following set of primers can be employed to expressHMarcoSR of SEQ ID NO: 5 in COS cells:

5' CTA TAAGAATTCGCAATGAGAAATAAGAAAATTC3'SEQ ID NO: 8

5'CCTCGGGAGCAGAGAAGTGAAAAGCTTTCC3'SEQ ID NO: 9

Example 4

Gene therapeutic expression of HMarcoSR

Fibroblasts are obtained from a subject by skin biopsy. The resultingtissue is placed in tissue-culture medium and separated into smallpieces. Small chunks of the tissue are placed on a wet surface of atissue culture flask, approximately ten pieces are placed in each flask.The flask is turned upside down, closed tight and left at roomtemperature overnight. After 24 hours at room temperature, the flask isinverted--the chunks of tissue remain fixed to the bottom of theflask--and fresh media is added (e.g., Ham's F12 media, with 10% FBS,penicillin and streptomycin). The tissue is then incubated at 37° C. forapproximately one week. At this time, fresh media is added andsubsequently changed every several days. After an additional two weeksin culture, a monolayer of fibroblasts emerges. The monolayer istrypsinized and scaled into larger flasks.

A vector for gene therapy is digested with restriction enzymes forcloning a fragment to be expressed. The digested vector is treated withcalf intestinal phosphatase to prevent self-ligation. Thedephosphorylated, linear vector is fractionated on an agarose gel andpurified.

HMarcoSR cDNA capable of expressing active HMarcoSR, is isolated. Theends of the fragment are modified, if necessary, for cloning into thevector. For instance, 5' overhanging may be treated with DNA polymeraseto create blunt ends. 3' overhanging ends may be removed using S1nuclease. Linkers may be ligated to blunt ends with T4 DNA ligase.

Equal quantities of the Moloney murine leukemia virus linear backboneand the HMarcoSR fragment are mixed together and joined using T4 DNAligase. The ligation mixture is used to transform E. coli and thebacteria are then plated onto agar-containing kanamycin. Kanamycinphenotype and restriction analysis confirm that the vector has theproperly inserted gene.

Packaging cells are grown in tissue culture to confluent density inDulbecco's Modified Eagles Medium (DMEM) with 10% calf serum (CS),penicillin and streptomycin. The vector containing the HMarcoSR gene isintroduced into the packaging cells by standard techniques. Infectiousviral particles containing the HMarcoSR gene are collected from thepackaging cells, which now are called producer cells.

Fresh media is added to the producer cells, and after an appropriateincubation period media is harvested from the plates of confluentproducer cells. The media, containing the infectious viral particles, isfiltered through a Millipore filter to remove detached producer cells.The filtered media then is used to infect fibroblast cells. Media isremoved from a sub-confluent plate of fibroblasts and quickly replacedwith the filtered media Polybrene (Aldrich) may be included in the mediato facilitate transduction. After appropriate incubation, the media isremoved and replaced with fresh media. If the titer of virus is high,then virtually all fibroblasts will be infected and no selection isrequired. If the titer is low, then it is necessary to use a retroviralvector that has a selectable marker, such as neo or his, to select outtransduced cells for expansion.

Engineered fibroblasts then may be injected into rats, either alone orafter having been grown to confluence on microcarrier beads, such ascytodex 3 beads. The injected fibroblasts produce HMarcoSR product, andthe biological actions of the protein are conveyed to the host.

It will be clear that the invention may be practiced otherwise than asparticularly described in the foregoing description and examples.

Example 5

Binding studies of HMarcoSR SEQ ID NO: 2

Fluorescein-labeled lipopolysaccharide (FITC-LPS, E. coli serotype026:B6, F-7037) was obtained from Sigma Chemical Co, St. Louis, Mo.DiI-labeled acetylated low density lipoprotein (DiI-AcLDL) was obtainedfrom Biomedical Technologies, Inc., Stoughton, Mass.

Contents were removed from wells of 24-well Corning plastic tissueculture plates and replaced with 250 μl of EMEM plus 2 mg/ml BSA.Increasing concentrations of DiI-AcLDL and FITC-LPS were added up to 5%and up to 10% of volume, respectively. Plates were incubated for 4 hoursat 37 C in a 5% CO₂ incubator, and well contents were aspirated, washedwith 500 μl Locke's solution, and incubated with 250 μl Locke's solutionfor fluorescence determinations.

Fluorescence quantitations were performed with a CytoFluor 2350instrument (PerSeptive Biosystems, Framingham, Mass.) set to the 24-wellarea map with "B" filters for DiI-AcLDL and "C" filters for FITC-LPS.Data were quantified by averaging the results of each area map andaveraging the results of replicate wells. Cell blanks of unlabeled wellsfrom each dish (both untransfected and transfected with HMarcoSR) weresubtracted from the fluorescence measurements.

Results:

Dose-response curves for FITC-LPS are a best-fit, second-order,polynomial function for three different combined dose-response curves.As seen in FIG. 2, MARCO-transfected COS cells bound 3 to 4-fold moreFITC-LPS than untransfected COS cells, over most of the dose range.Results for DiI-AcLDL were calculated as above, and are from a singledose-response. As seen in FIG. 3, DiI-AcLDL binding to COS cells wasindependent of transfection with HMarcoSR.

These results show that HMarcoSR was expressed in the COS cells, asshown by their ability to bind LPS, a HMarco ligand. Additionally,modified lipoproteins do not appear to be ligands for HMarcoSR, sinceDiI-AcLDL bound to the same extent to untransfected as well as totransfected cells.

Numerous modifications and variations of the present invention arepossible in light of the above teachings and, therefore, are within thescope of the appended claims.

Example 6

Cloning of the full length Macro Scavenger Receptor of SEQ ID NO: 6

The partial clone (HAPCC46) that was initially identified through randomsearches of the Human Genome Sciences data base was used to screen theHGS data base. This search resulted in the identification of the fulllength clone of human Marco Scavenger Recptor (HGS 1471177, HMSJA80).The clone was cmpletely sequenced as previously discribed. Sequenceanalysis revealed that the the cDNA clone is 1794 nucleotide in length.The coding region of the cDNA clone start with ATG (nucleotide #95) andend with the stop codon TGA (nucleotide 1655) The coding region contain520 amino acid in length.

The DNA sequence encoding HMarcoSR is amplified using PCRoligonucleotide primers specific to the amino acid carboxyl terminalsequence of the HMarcoSR protein and to vector sequences 3' to the gene.Additional nucleotides containing restriction sites to facilitatecloning are added to the 5' and 3' sequences respectively.

The 5' oligonucleotide primer had the sequence 5'CTATAAGAATTCGCAATGAGAAATAAGAAAATTC SEQ ID NO:8 containing the underlinedEcoRI restriction site, which is followed by 22 nucleotides of theHMarcoSR 5'-coding sequence.

The 3' primer has the sequence 5'CCTCGGGAGCAGAGAAGTGAAAAGCTTTCC SEQ IDNO:9 containing the underlined engineered HindIII restriction siteembedded within 21 nucleotides complementary to the nucleotide sequenceof the 3'-noncoding region of HMarcoSR sequence.

The amplified HMarcoSR DNA was subclone into the mammalian expressionvector pCDN vector at the EcoRI and HindIII site and then ligatedtogether. The ligation mixture is transformed into competent E. colicells using standard procedures. Such procedures are described inSambrook et al., MOLECULAR CLONING: A LABORATORY MANUAL, 2nd Ed.; ColdSpring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. (1989) asdescribed above.

Transformants are identified by their ability to grow on LB plates inthe presence of ampicillin. Plasmid DNA is isolated from resistantcolonies and the identity of the cloned DNA is confirmed by restrictionanalysis.

Clones containing the desired constructs are grown overnight ("O/N") inliquid culture in LB media supplemented with both ampicillin (100ug/ml). Two of the clones were completely sequenced in order to confirmthe coding region of the clone. The Marco in pCDN vector was used formammalian transfection.

    __________________________________________________________________________    #             SEQUENCE LISTING    - (1) GENERAL INFORMATION:    -    (iii) NUMBER OF SEQUENCES: 9    - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:1:    -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:    #pairs    (A) LENGTH: 1703 base              (B) TYPE: nucleic acid              (C) STRANDEDNESS: single              (D) TOPOLOGY: linear    -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: cDNA    -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:1:    - GGCACGAGCT CTTGAGTGAG ACCCAACAAG CTGCTTTTCA CCAAATTGCA AT - #GGAGCCTT      60    - TCGAAATCAA TGTTCCAAAG CCCAAGAGGA GAAATGGGGT GAACTTCTCC CT - #AGCTGTGG     120    - TGGTCATCTA CCTGATCCTG CTCACCGCTG GCGCTGGGCT GCTGGTGGTC CA - #AGTTCTGA     180    - ATCTGCAGGC GCGGCTCCGG GTCCTGGAGA TGTATTTCCT CAATGACACT CT - #GGCGGCTG     240    - AGGACAGCCC GTCCTTCTCC TTGCTGCAGT CAGCACACCC TGGAGAACAC CT - #GGCTCAGG     300    - GTGCATCGAG GCTGCAAGTC CTGCAGGCCC AACTCACCTG GGTCCGCGTC AG - #CCATGAGC     360    - ACTTGCTGCA GCGGGTAGAC AACTTCACTC AGAACCCAGG GATGTTCAGA AT - #CAAAGGTG     420    - AACAAGGCGC CCCAGGTCTT CAAGGTCACA AGGGGGCCAT GGGCATGCCT GG - #TGCCCCTG     480    - GCCCGCCGGG ACCACCTGCT GAGAAGGGAG CCAAGGGGGC TATGGGACGA GA - #TGGAACAA     540    - CAGGCCCCTC GGGACCCCAA GGCCCACCGG GAGTCAAGGG AGAGGCGGGC CT - #CCAAGGAC     600    - CCCAGGGTGC TCCAGGGAAG CAAGGAGCCA CTGGCACCCC AGGACCCCAA GG - #AGAGAAGG     660    - GCAGCAAAGG CGATGGGGGT CTCATTGGCC CAAAAGGGGA AACTGGAACT AA - #GGGAGAGA     720    - AAGGAGACCT GGGTCTCCCA GGAAGCAAAG GGGACAGGGG CATGAAAGGA GA - #TGCAGGGG     780    - TCATGGGGCC TCCTGGAGCC CAGGGGAGTA AAGGTGACTT CGGGAGGCCA GG - #CCCACCAG     840    - GTTTGGCTGG TTTTCCTGGA GCTAAAGGAG ATCAAGGACA ACCTGGACTG CA - #GGGTGTTC     900    - CGGGCCCTCC TGGTGCAGTG GGACACCCAG GTGCCAAGGG TGAGCCTGGC AG - #TGCTGGCT     960    - CCCCTGGGCG AGCAGGACTT CCAGGGAGCC CCGGGAGTCC AGGAGCCACA GG - #CCTGAAAG    1020    - GAAGCAAAGG GGACACAGGA CTTCAAGGAC AGCAAGGAAG AAAAGGAGAA TC - #AGGAGTTC    1080    - CAGGCCCTGC AGGTGTGAAG GGAGAACAGG GGAGCCCAGG GCTGGCAGGT CC - #CAAGGGAG    1140    - CCCCTGGACA AGCTGGCCAG AAGGGAGACC AGGGAGTGAA AGGATCTTCT GG - #GGAGCAAG    1200    - GAGTAAAGGG AGAAAAAGGT GAAAGAGGTG AAAACTCAGT GTCCGTCAGG AT - #TGTCGGCA    1260    - GTAGTAACCG AGGCCGGGCT GAAGTTTACT ACAGTGGTAC CTGGGGGACA AT - #TTGCGATG    1320    - ACGAGTGGCA AAATTCTGAT GCCATTGTCT TCTGCCGCAT GCTGGGTACT CC - #AAAGGAAG    1380    - GGCCCTGTAC AAAGTGGGAG CTGGCACTGG GCAGATCTGG CTGGATAATG TT - #CAGTGTCG    1440    - GGGCACGGAG AGTACCCTGT GGAGCTGCAC CAAGAATAGC TGGGGCCATC AT - #GACTGCAG    1500    - CCACGAGGAG GACGCAGGCG TGGAGTGCAG CGTCTGACCC GGAAACCCTT TC - #ACTTCTCT    1560    - GCTCCCGAGG TGTCCTCGGG CTCANATGTG GGAAGGCAGA GGATCTCTGA GG - #AGTTCCCT    1620    - GGGGACAACT GAGCAGCCTC TGGAGAGGGG CCATTAATAA AGCTCAACAT CA - #TGAAAAAA    1680    #              1703AAAA AAA    - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:2:    -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:    #acids    (A) LENGTH: 495 amino              (B) TYPE: amino acid              (C) STRANDEDNESS: single              (D) TOPOLOGY: linear    -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide    -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:2:    - Met Glu Pro Phe Glu Ile Asn Val Pro Lys Pr - #o Lys Arg Arg Asn Gly    #                15    - Val Asn Phe Ser Leu Ala Val Val Val Ile Ty - #r Leu Ile Leu Leu Thr    #            30    - Ala Gly Ala Gly Leu Leu Val Val Gln Val Le - #u Asn Leu Gln Ala Arg    #        45    - Leu Arg Val Leu Glu Met Tyr Phe Leu Asn As - #p Thr Leu Ala Ala Glu    #    60    - Asp Ser Pro Ser Phe Ser Leu Leu Gln Ser Al - #a His Pro Gly Glu His    #80    - Leu Ala Gln Gly Ala Ser Arg Leu Gln Val Le - #u Gln Ala Gln Leu Thr    #                95    - Trp Val Arg Val Ser His Glu His Leu Leu Gl - #n Arg Val Asp Asn Phe    #           110    - Thr Gln Asn Pro Gly Met Phe Arg Ile Lys Gl - #y Glu Gln Gly Ala Pro    #       125    - Gly Leu Gln Gly His Lys Gly Ala Met Gly Me - #t Pro Gly Ala Pro Gly    #   140    - Pro Pro Gly Pro Pro Ala Glu Lys Gly Ala Ly - #s Gly Ala Met Gly Arg    145                 1 - #50                 1 - #55                 1 -    #60    - Asp Gly Thr Thr Gly Pro Ser Gly Pro Gln Gl - #y Pro Pro Gly Val Lys    #               175    - Gly Glu Ala Gly Leu Gln Gly Pro Gln Gly Al - #a Pro Gly Lys Gln Gly    #           190    - Ala Thr Gly Thr Pro Gly Pro Gln Gly Glu Ly - #s Gly Ser Lys Gly Asp    #       205    - Gly Gly Leu Ile Gly Pro Lys Gly Glu Thr Gl - #y Thr Lys Gly Glu Lys    #   220    - Gly Asp Leu Gly Leu Pro Gly Ser Lys Gly As - #p Arg Gly Met Lys Gly    225                 2 - #30                 2 - #35                 2 -    #40    - Asp Ala Gly Val Met Gly Pro Pro Gly Ala Gl - #n Gly Ser Lys Gly Asp    #               255    - Phe Gly Arg Pro Gly Pro Pro Gly Leu Ala Gl - #y Phe Pro Gly Ala Lys    #           270    - Gly Asp Gln Gly Gln Pro Gly Leu Gln Gly Va - #l Pro Gly Pro Pro Gly    #       285    - Ala Val Gly His Pro Gly Ala Lys Gly Glu Pr - #o Gly Ser Ala Gly Ser    #   300    - Pro Gly Arg Ala Gly Leu Pro Gly Ser Pro Gl - #y Ser Pro Gly Ala Thr    305                 3 - #10                 3 - #15                 3 -    #20    - Gly Leu Lys Gly Ser Lys Gly Asp Thr Gly Le - #u Gln Gly Gln Gln Gly    #               335    - Arg Lys Gly Glu Ser Gly Val Pro Gly Pro Al - #a Gly Val Lys Gly Glu    #           350    - Gln Gly Ser Pro Gly Leu Ala Gly Pro Lys Gl - #y Ala Pro Gly Gln Ala    #       365    - Gly Gln Lys Gly Asp Gln Gly Val Lys Gly Se - #r Ser Gly Glu Gln Gly    #   380    - Val Lys Gly Glu Lys Gly Glu Arg Gly Glu As - #n Ser Val Ser Val Arg    385                 3 - #90                 3 - #95                 4 -    #00    - Ile Val Gly Ser Ser Asn Arg Gly Arg Ala Gl - #u Val Tyr Tyr Ser Gly    #               415    - Thr Trp Gly Thr Ile Cys Asp Asp Glu Trp Gl - #n Asn Ser Asp Ala Ile    #           430    - Val Phe Cys Arg Met Leu Gly Tyr Ser Lys Gl - #y Arg Ala Leu Tyr Lys    #       445    - Val Gly Ala Gly Thr Gly Gln Ile Trp Leu As - #p Asn Val Gln Cys Arg    #   460    - Gly Thr Glu Ser Thr Leu Trp Ser Cys Thr Ly - #s Asn Ser Trp Gly His    465                 4 - #70                 4 - #75                 4 -    #80    - His Asp Cys Ser His Glu Glu Asp Ala Gly Va - #l Glu Cys Ser Val    #               495    - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:3:    -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:    #pairs    (A) LENGTH: 29 base              (B) TYPE: nucleic acid              (C) STRANDEDNESS: single              (D) TOPOLOGY: linear    -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: cDNA    -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:3:    #            29    CGAG CTCTTGAGT    - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:4:    -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:    #pairs    (A) LENGTH: 30 base              (B) TYPE: nucleic acid              (C) STRANDEDNESS: single              (D) TOPOLOGY: linear    -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: cDNA    -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:4:    #           30     GTGA AAAGCTTTCC    - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:5:    -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:    #pairs    (A) LENGTH: 1560 base              (B) TYPE: nucleic acid              (C) STRANDEDNESS: single              (D) TOPOLOGY: linear    -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: cDNA    -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:5:    - ATGAGAAATA AGAAAATTCT CAAGGAGGAC GAGCTCTTGA GTGAGACCCA AC - #AAGCTGCT      60    - TTTCACCAAA TTGCAATGGA GCCTTTCGAA ATCAATGTTC CAAAGCCCAA GA - #GGAGAAAT     120    - GGGGTGAACT TCTCCCTAGC TGTGGTGGTC ATCTACCTGA TCCTGCTCAC CG - #CTGGCGCT     180    - GGGCTGCTGG TGGTCCAAGT TCTGAATCTG CAGGCGCGGC TCCGGGTCCT GG - #AGATGTAT     240    - TTCCTCAATG ACACTCTGGC GGCTGAGGAC AGCCCGTCCT TCTCCTTGCT GC - #AGTCAGCA     300    - CACCCTGGAG AACACCTGGC TCAGGGTGCA TCGAGGCTGC AAGTCCTGCA GG - #CCCAACTC     360    - ACCTGGGTCC GCGTCAGCCA TGAGCACTTG CTGCAGCGGG TAGACAACTT CA - #CTCAGAAC     420    - CCAGGGATGT TCAGAATCAA AGGTGAACAA GGCGCCCCAG GTCTTCAAGG TC - #ACAAGGGG     480    - GCCATGGGCA TGCCTGGTGC CCCTGGCCCG CCGGGACCAC CTGCTGAGAA GG - #GAGCCAAG     540    - GGGGCTATGG GACGAGATGG AGCAACAGGC CCCTCGGGAC CCCAAGGCCC AC - #CGGGAGTC     600    - AAGGGAGAGG CGGGCCTCCA AGGACCCCAG GGTGCTCCAG GGAAGCAAGG AG - #CCACTGGC     660    - ACCCCAGGAC CCCAAGGAGA GAAGGGCAGC AAAGGCGATG GGGGTCTCAT TG - #GCCCAAAA     720    - GGGGAAACTG GAACTAAGGG AGAGAAAGGA GACCTGGGTC TCCCAGGAAG CA - #AAGGGGAC     780    - AGGGGCATGA AAGGAGATGC AGGGGTCATG GGGCCTCCTG GAGCCCAGGG GA - #GTAAAGGT     840    - GACTTCGGGA GGCCAGGCCC ACCAGGTTTG GCTGGTTTTC CTGGAGCTAA AG - #GAGATCAA     900    - GGACAACCTG GACTGCAGGG TGTTCCGGGC CCTCCTGGTG CAGTGGGACA CC - #CAGGTGCC     960    - AAGGGTGAGC CTGGCAGTGC TGGCTCCCCT GGGCGAGCAG GACTTCCAGG GA - #GCCCCGGG    1020    - AGTCCAGGAG CCACAGGCCT GAAAGGAAGC AAAGGGGACA CAGGACTTCA AG - #GACAGCAA    1080    - GGAAGAAAAG GAGAATCAGG AGTTCCAGGC CCTGCAGGTG TGAAGGGAGA AC - #AGGGGAGC    1140    - CCAGGGCTGG CAGGTCCCAA GGGAGCCCCT GGACAAGCTG GCCAGAAGGG AG - #ACCAGGGA    1200    - GTGAAAGGAT CTTCTGGGGA GCAAGGAGTA AAGGGAGAAA AAGGTGAAAG AG - #GTGAAAAC    1260    - TCAGTGTCCG TCAGGATTGT CGGCAGTAGT AACCGAGGCC GGGCTGAAGT TT - #ACTACAGT    1320    - GGTACCTGGG GGACAATTTG CGATGACGAG TGGCAAAATT CTGATGCCAT TG - #TCTTCTGC    1380    - CGCATGCTGG GTTACTCCAA AGGAAGGGCC CTGTACAAAG TGGGAGCTGG CA - #CTGGGCAG    1440    - ATCTGGCTGG ATAATGTTCA GTGTCGGGGC ACGGAGAGTA CCCTGTGGAG CT - #GCACCAAG    1500    - AATAGCTGGG GCCATCATGA CTGCAGCCAC GAGGAGGACG CAGGCGTGGA GT - #GCAGCGTC    1560    - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:6:    -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:    #acids    (A) LENGTH: 520 amino              (B) TYPE: amino acid              (C) STRANDEDNESS: single              (D) TOPOLOGY: linear    -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide    -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:6:    - Met Arg Asn Lys Lys Ile Leu Lys Glu Asp Gl - #u Leu Leu Ser Glu Thr    #                15    - Gln Gln Ala Ala Phe His Gln Ile Ala Met Gl - #u Pro Phe Glu Ile Asn    #            30    - Val Pro Lys Pro Lys Arg Arg Asn Gly Val As - #n Phe Ser Leu Ala Val    #        45    - Val Val Ile Tyr Leu Ile Leu Leu Thr Ala Gl - #y Ala Gly Leu Leu Val    #    60    - Val Gln Val Leu Asn Leu Gln Ala Arg Leu Ar - #g Val Leu Glu Met Tyr    #80    - Phe Leu Asn Asp Thr Leu Ala Ala Glu Asp Se - #r Pro Ser Phe Ser Leu    #                95    - Leu Gln Ser Ala His Pro Gly Glu His Leu Al - #a Gln Gly Ala Ser Arg    #           110    - Leu Gln Val Leu Gln Ala Gln Leu Thr Trp Va - #l Arg Val Ser His Glu    #       125    - His Leu Leu Gln Arg Val Asp Asn Phe Thr Gl - #n Asn Pro Gly Met Phe    #   140    - Arg Ile Lys Gly Glu Gln Gly Ala Pro Gly Le - #u Gln Gly His Lys Gly    145                 1 - #50                 1 - #55                 1 -    #60    - Ala Met Gly Met Pro Gly Ala Pro Gly Pro Pr - #o Gly Pro Pro Ala Glu    #               175    - Lys Gly Ala Lys Gly Ala Met Gly Arg Asp Gl - #y Ala Thr Gly Pro Ser    #           190    - Gly Pro Gln Gly Pro Pro Gly Val Lys Gly Gl - #u Ala Gly Leu Gln Gly    #       205    - Pro Gln Gly Ala Pro Gly Lys Gln Gly Ala Th - #r Gly Thr Pro Gly Pro    #   220    - Gln Gly Glu Lys Gly Ser Lys Gly Asp Gly Gl - #y Leu Ile Gly Pro Lys    225                 2 - #30                 2 - #35                 2 -    #40    - Gly Glu Thr Gly Thr Lys Gly Glu Lys Gly As - #p Leu Gly Leu Pro Gly    #               255    - Ser Lys Gly Asp Arg Gly Met Lys Gly Asp Al - #a Gly Val Met Gly Pro    #           270    - Pro Gly Ala Gln Gly Ser Lys Gly Asp Phe Gl - #y Arg Pro Gly Pro Pro    #       285    - Gly Leu Ala Gly Phe Pro Gly Ala Lys Gly As - #p Gln Gly Gln Pro Gly    #   300    - Leu Gln Gly Val Pro Gly Pro Pro Gly Ala Va - #l Gly His Pro Gly Ala    305                 3 - #10                 3 - #15                 3 -    #20    - Lys Gly Glu Pro Gly Ser Ala Gly Ser Pro Gl - #y Arg Ala Gly Leu Pro    #               335    - Gly Ser Pro Gly Ser Pro Gly Ala Thr Gly Le - #u Lys Gly Ser Lys Gly    #           350    - Asp Thr Gly Leu Gln Gly Gln Gln Gly Arg Ly - #s Gly Glu Ser Gly Val    #       365    - Pro Gly Pro Ala Gly Val Lys Gly Glu Gln Gl - #y Ser Pro Gly Leu Ala    #   380    - Gly Pro Lys Gly Ala Pro Gly Gln Ala Gly Gl - #n Lys Gly Asp Gln Gly    385                 3 - #90                 3 - #95                 4 -    #00    - Val Lys Gly Ser Ser Gly Glu Gln Gly Val Ly - #s Gly Glu Lys Gly Glu    #               415    - Arg Gly Glu Asn Ser Val Ser Val Arg Ile Va - #l Gly Ser Ser Asn Arg    #           430    - Gly Arg Ala Glu Val Tyr Tyr Ser Gly Thr Tr - #p Gly Thr Ile Cys Asp    #       445    - Asp Glu Trp Gln Asn Ser Asp Ala Ile Val Ph - #e Cys Arg Met Leu Gly    #   460    - Tyr Ser Lys Gly Arg Ala Leu Tyr Lys Val Gl - #y Ala Gly Thr Gly Gln    465                 4 - #70                 4 - #75                 4 -    #80    - Ile Trp Leu Asp Asn Val Gln Cys Arg Gly Th - #r Glu Ser Thr Leu Trp    #               495    - Ser Cys Thr Lys Asn Ser Trp Gly His His As - #p Cys Ser His Glu Glu    #           510    - Asp Ala Gly Val Glu Cys Ser Val    #       520    - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:7:    -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:    #acids    (A) LENGTH: 489 amino              (B) TYPE: amino acid              (C) STRANDEDNESS: single              (D) TOPOLOGY: linear    -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein    -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:7:    - Met Glu Thr Phe Glu Ile Asn Asp Pro Val Pr - #o Lys Lys Arg Asn Gly    #                15    - Gly Thr Phe Cys Met Ala Val Met Ala Ile Hi - #s Leu Ile Leu Leu Thr    #            30    - Ala Gly Thr Ala Leu Leu Leu Ile Gln Val Le - #u Asn Leu Gln Glu Gln    #        45    - Leu Gln Met Leu Glu Met Cys Cys Gly Asn Gl - #y Ser Leu Ala Ile Glu    #    60    - Asp Lys Pro Phe Phe Ser Leu Gln Trp Ala Pr - #o Lys Thr His Leu Val    #80    - Pro Arg Ala Gln Gly Leu Gln Ala Leu Gln Al - #a Gln Leu Ser Trp Val    #                95    - His Thr Ser Gln Glu Gln Leu Arg Gln Gln Ph - #e Asn Asn Leu Thr Gln    #           110    - Asn Pro Glu Leu Phe Gln Ile Lys Gly Glu Ar - #g Gly Ser Pro Gly Pro    #       125    - Lys Gly Ala Pro Gly Ala Pro Gly Ile Pro Gl - #y Leu Pro Gly Pro Ala    #   140    - Ala Glu Lys Gly Glu Lys Gly Ala Ala Gly Ar - #g Asp Gly Thr Pro Gly    145                 1 - #50                 1 - #55                 1 -    #60    - Val Gln Gly Pro Gln Gly Pro Pro Gly Ser Ly - #s Gly Glu Ala Gly Leu    #               175    - Gln Gly Leu Thr Gly Ala Pro Gly Lys Gln Gl - #y Ala Thr Gly Ala Pro    #           190    - Gly Pro Arg Gly Glu Lys Gly Ser Lys Gly As - #p Ile Gly Leu Thr Gly    #       205    - Pro Lys Gly Glu His Gly Thr Lys Gly Asp Ly - #s Gly Asp Leu Gly Leu    #   220    - Pro Gly Asn Lys Gly Asp Met Gly Met Lys Gl - #y Asp Thr Gly Pro Met    225                 2 - #30                 2 - #35                 2 -    #40    - Gly Ser Pro Gly Ala Gln Gly Gly Lys Gly As - #p Ala Gly Lys Pro Gly    #               255    - Leu Pro Gly Leu Ala Gly Ser Pro Gly Val Ly - #s Gly Asp Gln Gly Lys    #           270    - Pro Gly Val Gln Gly Val Pro Gly Pro Gln Gl - #y Ala Pro Gly Leu Ser    #       285    - Gly Ala Lys Gly Glu Pro Gly Arg Thr Gly Le - #u Pro Gly Pro Ala Gly    #   300    - Pro Pro Gly Ile Ala Gly Asn Pro Gly Ile Al - #a Gly Val Lys Gly Ser    305                 3 - #10                 3 - #15                 3 -    #20    - Lys Gly Asp Thr Gly Ile Gln Gly Gln Lys Gl - #y Thr Lys Gly Glu Ser    #               335    - Gly Val Pro Gly Leu Val Gly Arg Lys Gly As - #p Thr Gly Ser Pro Gly    #           350    - Leu Ala Gly Pro Lys Gly Glu Pro Gly Arg Va - #l Gly Gln Lys Gly Asp    #       365    - Pro Gly Met Lys Gly Ser Ser Gly Gln Gln Gl - #y Gln Lys Gly Glu Lys    #   380    - Gly Gln Lys Gly Glu Ser Phe Gln Arg Val Ar - #g Ile Met Gly Gly Thr    385                 3 - #90                 3 - #95                 4 -    #00    - Asn Arg Gly Arg Ala Glu Val Tyr Tyr Asn As - #n Glu Trp Gly Thr Ile    #               415    - Cys Asp Asp Asp Trp Asp Asn Asn Asp Ala Th - #r Val Phe Cys Arg Met    #           430    - Leu Gly Tyr Ser Arg Gly Arg Ala Leu Ser Se - #r Tyr Gly Gly Gly Ser    #       445    - Gly Asn Ile Trp Leu Asp Asn Val Asn Cys Ar - #g Gly Thr Glu Asn Ser    #   460    - Leu Trp Asp Cys Ser Lys Asn Ser Trp Gly As - #n His Asn Cys Val His    465                 4 - #70                 4 - #75                 4 -    #80    - Asn Glu Asp Ala Gly Val Glu Cys Ser                    485    - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:8:    -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:    #pairs    (A) LENGTH: 34 base              (B) TYPE: nucleic acid              (C) STRANDEDNESS: single              (D) TOPOLOGY: linear    -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: cDNA    -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:8:    #        34        TGAG AAATAAGAAA ATTC    - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:9:    -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:    #pairs    (A) LENGTH: 30 base              (B) TYPE: nucleic acid              (C) STRANDEDNESS: single              (D) TOPOLOGY: linear    -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: cDNA    -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:9:    #           30     GTGA AAAGCTTTCC    __________________________________________________________________________

What is claimed is:
 1. An isolated polynucleotide comprising apolynucleotide encoding a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequenceset forth in SEQ ID NO:6.
 2. The polynucleotide of claim 1 comprisingthe nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:5.
 3. An expressionvector comprising the polynucleotide of claim
 1. 4. An isolated hostcell comprising the expression vector of claim
 3. 5. A process forexpressing a polypeptide comprising: expressing from the host cell ofclaim 4 a polypeptide encoded by said polynucleotide.
 6. A process forproducing a cell which expresses a polypeptide comprising transformingor transfecting the cell with the expression vector of claim 3 such thatthe cell expresses the polypeptide encoded by the polynucleotidecontained in the vector.
 7. Cells produced by the process of claim
 6. 8.An isolated polynucleotide comprising a polynucleotide encoding the samemature polypeptide expressed by the human cDNA contained in ATCC DepositNo.
 98015. 9. An isolated polynucleotide comprising the nucleotidesequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:
 1. 10. An isolated polynucleotide whichencodes a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence set forth inSEQ ID NO:2.
 11. The isolated polynucleotide of claims 1, 8, or 10 whichis DNA or RNA.
 12. An isolated polynucleotide which is complementary tothe polynucleotide of claims 1, 2, 8, 9, or 10.